Silence fell over Dareth.

  Not the fearful silence of waiting.

  But the stunned quiet that follows survival.

  Smoke still drifted between broken towers. Stone lay shattered across the courtyard where a demon had stood only moments before.

  Kael Thorn lay among the ruins, barely conscious.

  The sky above him was blue again.

  Clear.

  Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

  Whole.

  He coughed, tasting blood and ash.

  “Boy…” he muttered weakly.

  But Arin was gone.

  There was no body.

  No mark burned into stone.

  Only the faintest shimmer in the air—like heat rising from summer wheat.

  He tried to rise and failed.

  Soldiers approached cautiously, helping him to sit upright. Their eyes were not filled with fear now.

  They were filled with something else.

  Relief.

  Kael looked toward the northern horizon.

  The mountains were still.

  The earth no longer trembled.

  The demon was sealed.

  Revenge—his lifelong purpose—no longer mattered.

  He had not killed Kael’Zareth.

  But he had helped end its reign.

  And somehow, that felt heavier.

  Not worse.

  Just different.

  For the first time in fifteen years, he did not feel rage burning inside him.

  He felt… quiet.

  He let the soldiers lift him.

  And watched the sun rise over a broken but living kingdom.