Chapter 117 Fraying Realities

• Axel's POV
• The air in the room felt thick, heavy with a tension I couldn’t quite shake. It wasn’t the usual type of fear that gripped me before a fight. No, this was different. It was the kind of uncertainty that gnawed at your bones, a quiet dread that whispered over and over: What if this is the last time we have peace? The last time that we ever had this kind of calm in our lives was because the next few weeks were bound to take them from us.
• What if we didn’t survive the battle to come? What if, when the day finally arrived to face our father, there wouldn’t be a victory at all? What if everything we had fought for, everything we’d worked toward, slipped away like sand through our fingers?