Chapter 140

• Ahyoka listened, and the more he heard, the harder it became to breathe. His blood boiled — not just from anger, but from helplessness, from the unbearable thought that his daughter had lived through so much without him. He wanted to scream, to destroy everything around him, to find the man who had dared to hurt her. But beneath that rage, something gentler stirred — understanding. For the first time, he understood why Alora wanted to go back to those people he once despised.
• Because they had loved her. Truly, selflessly loved her.
• The man named August — he had married a woman he didn’t love, maybe even hated, just to keep Alora safe and happy. He had sacrificed his own peace for hers, always keeping her at the center of his world.