Kael’s POV

Mira had been confined since dawn. The healers called it rest, but everyone knew it was a strategy. The Council wanted her out of sight before the meeting. They thought walls could temper a bond they didn’t understand. Distance only sharpened it.

I’d gone once to her door. The guards stiffened, uncertain whether to stop me or bow. Her scent lingered on the wood, faint, grounding. I didn’t knock. I turned away, because seeing her again might’ve undone what little control I ...