Vera's POV
The pain in my ribs from the boy's—my son's—punch was nothing. A dull, distant thing.
The real storm was inside me. It had started the moment Kieran channeled that energy. That specific, brutal, beautiful mix of white and violet light. It wasn't a common enchantment.
Right from the beginning that I met them, I refused it. Fear locked the truth away. The familiar intense, brooding eyes that were mirrors of my own and Marcus's, i took them as cruel coincidence. I couldn't afford hope. Hope had broken me before.
But then they fought. That silent, seamless communication. That unbreakable resolve to protect each other at any cost. It was a core principle bred into the bones of the Valerius line. Family first. Protect your own.
Watching them, feeling the echoes of their power, I couldn't lie to myself anymore. To ignore the signs now would make me the greatest fool who ever lived.
