The palace no longer felt like a place of victory.
It felt like a waiting room for something inevitable.
Aria stood on the highest balcony, wind clawing through her hair like restless fingers. Below, the city of Valeris still glowed with lanternlight. People celebrated in the streets. Bonfires. Music. Laughter carried upward like fragile prayers.
They thought the war was over.
They thought the darkness had been defeated.
They were wrong.
She could feel it in her bones.
A tremor beneath the world. A heartbeat that wasn't hers.
And it was getting louder.
"You're going to freeze out here."
Damien's voice came from the shadows behind her, low and warm and dangerously steady. She didn't turn, but she felt him approach. Felt the air shift when he stepped beside her.
He leaned against the railing, shoulder brushing hers. That small contact still sent sparks through her skin, even after everything they'd survived.
