The scar split open before the entire court.

Not just a wound, not just light.

It gaped like an eye. A mouth.

Chains of silver fire uncoiled from Kael’s chest, snapping like whips across the stone floor. Wolves leapt back, yelping as their fur singed.

Kael staggered, clutching at the blaze. His voice fractured, layered, no longer his alone.

“Through the scar, I speak. Through the bone, I endure. Through the mother, I am born.”

The court froze. Fear thickened the air. None dared ...