Kael POV

The war room was empty but her voice still lingered.

I had let her because I knew if I followed her now I would say things I could not take back. I would tear apart every wall I had built and I would hand her a truth that could damn both of us.

But the silence pressed on me like a weight. Her anger. Her pain. The look in her eyes when she told me she was done bleeding for me.

I had bled for her. She just did not see it.

---

The knock on the door was sharp.

“Enter.”

Demian stepped in. His cloak still carried...