Adrian's Pov
The world was breaking apart around me.
Stone screamed, light cracked, and every shadow in the chamber came alive, twisting like serpents in pain. I couldn't breathe, no, I was breathing fire. My veins burned as if molten gold had replaced my blood. I remember Isolde's chant faltering, the flicker of terror in her eyes when the circle she had drawn turned against her.
She wanted power.
She wanted me broken.
But the goddess she had invoked, Seraphyne, was not answering her anymore.
The sigils on the floor pulsed light and shadow fighting for dominion. I felt both forces tearing through me, colliding in my chest. One voice whispered of ruin and vengeance, the other murmured of mercy and love. They were Seraphyne and… Damien.
I screamed.
The air shuddered. Shackles cracked, one after another, until I was standing in a storm of black smoke and bleeding light. The walls trembled as if afraid to contain me.
