SERAPHINA’S POV
The silver light between Kieran and me deepened, threading through us like a living current, not just connecting but synchronizing.
Kieran exhaled against my forehead—a sound half disbelief, half ecstasy. I felt his strength, his awareness, his control—no longer separate from mine in the same absolute way they had been before.
Aligned.
Malachar did not approve of the reforged mate bond.
His response was a pressure so deep and ancient it felt like the underground hall itself had suddenly developed a will of its own and intended to crush us.
And then Catherine moved.
But it wasn’t fully Catherine anymore.
The darkness that had been layered into her form convulsed, as if something inside her had been struck directly through its core.
Her body lurched forward, not of her own will. The movement was too harsh, too unnatural.
Like a puppeteer pulling strings.
