POV: Kael

“I have conquered territories, but I cannot order destiny to spare my son.”

The words tasted like copper and cold iron as I whispered them into the empty air of the training yard. I stood in the shadow of the western tower, watching the boy who carried my blood and a power I barely recognized, Kenny wasn't swinging a wooden sword, he wasn't practicing the heavy, lunging strikes I had taught him when he was five, he was standing perfectly still in the center of the dust-choked ...