Reichardt's POV
Now, standing here, in this Duchy, beside her, I finally understood the weight of that night. She wasn't seeing me. She was seeing him, the man whose heartbeat I now carried. The one whose power thrummed faintly beneath my skin every time I drew my power.
I clenched my fists, feeling the faint, unnatural pulse in my chest, a rhythm that wasn't entirely mine.
"Ahce…" I murmured her name quietly, watching her reload her rifle, determination etched into her every movement.
Maybe she didn't know the truth yet. Or maybe she did. Either way, the past had already chosen to haunt us both. And I could no longer tell where Reichardt Razalo ended and Richard Jing began.
The air was thick with the stench of blood and gunpowder. Screams of the dying echoed through the courtyard, mixing with the shriek of metal and the hiss of tainted blood splattering against stone.
