Mira’s POV

Kael tried to rise, his hands trembling, but the seal rejected him again. The sigils crawled across his skin like memory refusing to fade. I asked her what she meant. Rhenna didn’t hesitate. “He wrote the Oath, Mira. He forged the law that broke every line of peace we ever built.”

I told her she was lying. She smiled without humor. “You think the Oath was divine? It was a command. He made obedience look like unity.” Kael’s eyes opened then, clouded with pain and ...