The subterranean corridor was thick with the stench of frozen blood and the metallic tang of shattered magic.

Rhydian Thorne, the Dragon King of the Obsidian Court, stood utterly paralyzed. The arrogant posture that had defined him for years had collapsed, leaving him looking like a hollowed-out s

The activation of the Severance Edict was not a quiet, bureaucratic severing of ties. It was a physical, violent exorcism of the soul.

The moment Kaelia spoke the final words of rejection, a blinding flash of crimson and gold magic erupted between them. Rhydian didn’t even have time to touch her b

The first thing Kaelia Vance registered was the heat.

It was not the stifling, oppressive warmth of the hearths in the Obsidian Court, nor was it the suffocating, crushing weight of a Dragon King’s aura. This heat was absolute, radiant, and pure. It sank through her skin, bypassing muscle and bone