[POV: Sofia Lanka]

"You really think a piece of paper and a drop of royal ink will make me yours, Kairos? I am the Anchor. I have pulled the sun out of the sky and silenced the King’s voice across an entire continent. Do not mistake my silence for submission, and do not think for one second that I will ever let you touch the parts of me that still belong to the man the ocean took."

Sofia’s voice was a low, dangerous vibration in the dimness of the Southern sanctuary. She was sitting on the edge of a massive, silk-draped bed, her fingers digging into the plush, emerald velvet...