Chapter 94

• The world was still burning when Ariana fell to her knees.
• Ash drifted through the air like black snow, the scent of scorched magic heavy against her tongue. The battlefield was silent now—too silent—as if the land itself held its breath, unsure whether it had just witnessed salvation or the beginning of something far worse.
• Demion lay only a few steps behind her, his body twisted in the dirt, his breath shallow but alive. Alive only because she had forced the Dark Lord back, ripping raw power through her veins until it felt like glass shattering beneath her skin. But the price—oh, the price—she could feel it eating her, hollowing her, demanding the last of the life she still carried.