Elira POV + Kael POV
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The march slows as the sun crawls above the jagged landscape. The Legion halts to make camp in the shadow of a shattered fortress wall—an old border outpost reduced to a skeleton of stone. Crows nest in its broken battlements, their caws hoarse with hunger.
Elira tries to steady her breathing. Her wrists ache where the cuffs have rubbed her skin raw. The starlight that saved her earlier feels like a stranger lodged beneath her ribs.
Kael dismounts first.
"Bring her," he orders.
Two soldiers shove her forward. She stumbles into Kael's shadow—large enough to swallow her whole. His gaze traces the bruising at her wrists for a fraction of a moment too long… then sharpens again, unreadable.
"Inside," he commands, leading her into the remains of the fortress.
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The room he chooses is cold, dust glittering in shafts of dying light.
Kael stands before her, arms crossed, jaw set with military precision.
"You wield celestial magic."
Elira flinches.
Is that what it is?
"I—I don't know how. It just—"
"Happened?" His stare narrows. "Power like that does nothing by accident."
He steps forward and she instinctively steps back—until the wall stops her retreat.
Kael braces his palm beside her head, caging her in without touching.
"Where do you come from?" he asks, low and dangerous.
She searches her empty mind.
White flames—
A crown—
Chains—
A wolf's teeth in the dark—
Every thought splinters like glass.
"I don't know," she whispers. "Please believe me."
For a heartbeat—just one—his eyes soften. The monster inside him stirs in protest.
Kael jerks back as if distance is safety.
"I do not trust things that fall from the sky," he growls.
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Kael POV
He should be carving answers from her flesh.
Instead, he is… shaken.
Her power felt ancient—older than the gods who cursed him. The serpent coils beneath his skin, scales scraping bone.
"She is the key. Take her. Bind her"
"No," Kael snarls silently, clenching his fists.
If he lets this monster speak for him, the girl will die.
A soldier approaches and salutes.
"My lord, scouts report movement near the river crossing. Abyss-spawn tracking our trail."
Elira's eyes widen with fear.
She looks at him as if he can save her.
He hates how much he wants to.
Kael addresses the soldier without looking away from her:
"Triple the watch. If they come, the girl is your priority—she does not die. Understood?"
The soldier hesitates—shocked.
"Yes, Warlord."
When they are alone again, she whispers:
"Why protect me?"
His answer is ice:
"Because you are mine to protect… until I decide otherwise."
---
Night deepens.
The wind carries a foul stench—burned bone and rot. Elira shivers in her corner of the camp, wrapped only in the thin blanket thrown to her earlier.
She can feel the Abyss watching.
Hungry.
She clutches her knees and stares at the stars—wondering if any are watching back.
Her palms spark with pale light.
A whisper curls through the night:
> Remember…
Her pulse stutters.
> Before the wolf claims your heart.
Cold fingers brush her spine.
She spins—Kael stands behind her, cloak billowing in the wind, gaze fixed on the creeping darkness at the edge of camp.
"They're coming," he says. "Stay close."
As he moves ahead, the shadow behind him rises like wings—terrifying and beautiful in the moonlight.
For the first time, Elira is not afraid of him.
She is afraid for him.
And that is far more dangerous.