The night was alive with the sound of war.

Thunder rolled across the sky though there were no clouds, only the echo of two powers colliding so violently that the air itself trembled. The ground cracked beneath their feet, dust and ash spiraling through the darkness.

Darius stood at the center of it all, his chest still slick with blood from the earlier battle, but his eyes burned brighter than the moon. Across from him, Kael, reborn in Lucien’s body—watched with a twisted smirk, his own ...