Helena's POV
The silence after the Council meeting feels suffocating. No warriors training, no urgent voices, no echoes of ancient power. Just the gentle rustle of wind threading through the pack house windows.
When I shut my eyes, the acrid smell of temple smoke still fills my nostrils. I can still watch those flames devour everything I believed myself to be. The sensation clings to me like a shadow, and I wonder if it will haunt me forever.
Zoey stirs lazily in my mind. You have strength beyond measure. The Moon Goddess chose me for you because she knew what you could endure.
Her faith in me feels undeserved. Without Aria's power flowing through me, I feel hollow and weak.
Everything I accomplished might have been her doing, while I simply wore a crown that never truly belonged to me.
I perch on the edge of an unfamiliar bed, my bare feet pressed against the cold wooden floor, chasing sleep that refuses to find me.
