Varek:
I couldn't move.
Our queen's power coiled around me like a living flame, sinking deep into my bones. I felt it pulse beneath my skin, alive and demanding.
Ariane's command didn't just bind flesh—it bound soul. Her voice, laced with the power she barely knew how to wield, wove through the threads of this land and rooted the two most powerful kings to ever rule in place like we were goddamn trees in her forest.
Kaelen stood beside me, jaw tight, his pulse a storm I could feel echoing through the tension in the air. We were rivals in nearly everything, but now we were the same: kings humbled by the wrath of their queen.
He and I were monsters, and warriors forged in blood and chaos, yet a single command from her had undone us both.
"She bound us," I growled, more to myself than h
