Selene
Pain split through my spine like a crack in the earth.
My breath caught—ragged and sharp—against the stone wall I'd just slammed into. The air buzzed with static, my limbs trembling, my magic flickering like a flame pressed against the wind.
I tried to rise.
My palms skidded on marble slick with blood—mine, maybe. I couldn't tell anymore. My legs screamed. My vision doubled.
But I saw him.
Through the blur and the haze of smoke, I saw Azriel.
And gods, he was glowing.
Not the way I'd seen him glow before. Not in battle, not in anger.
This was different.
This was ascension.
A white-gold aura blazed around him, curling like mist and lightning all at once. His chest was heaving, shirt torn, eyes—those perfect golden eyes—lit from within. No, not just lit.
Burning.
Wind roared around him, spiraling at his feet, sweeping upward, tugging at his hair and clothes like the very air had been waiting for him to rise.
The only element I never could command.
Air.
