Chapter 57
Kael did not feel the ground.
He knew he was kneeling.
He knew his hand was pressed into the cracked surface beneath him.
But none of it felt real.
The only thing he felt
was the absence.
It sat in his chest like something had been carved out and left open.
Empty.
Cold.
Wrong.
His fingers pressed harder against his chest, as if he could force something back into place.
Nothing answered.
No warmth.
No pull.
No bond.
A sharp breath left him.
"…Ariana."
Her name did not echo.
It did not return.
It disappeared into the silence like it had never been spoken.
Kael's head lowered slightly.
For a moment,
he did not move.
Then something inside him shifted.
Not slowly.
Not gently.
It snapped.
The storm inside him surged.
Lightning burst from his body.
Not controlled.
Not focused.
Wild.
It tore across the ground, splitting the cracked surface wider, burning through the space around him. The air itself seemed to fracture under the force of it.
