Kael stood on the battlements of his fortress, looking out over the smoldering remains of a village he had just decimated. His heart, once capable of love, now only beat with a steady rhythm of vengeance and cruelty. The sun dipped low, casting long shadows across the ruined land as he surveyed his kingdom, which he had carved out with iron and blood. Fear was his weapon, and power his goal.
His past had been marked by betrayal—betrayal that had twisted him into a man who could feel nothing but anger. His brother, once his closest companion, had sold him out, leaving him to rot while seizing their family's wealth. That wound festered in Kael's soul, making him incapable of trust, let alone love.
But there was one person who still lingered in his thoughts: Elara. The heroine, a leader in the resistance movement against his rule. She was everything he despised—brave, pure, and driven by an unshakeable sense of justice. She had crossed his path once before, in the streets of his conquered cities, and their first meeting was a clash of steel and fire. They had fought each other fiercely, but beneath the hate, there was something... something unspoken.
Kael couldn't shake the thought of her. Her face was a beacon in the darkness of his world. And now, as he stood there, the smell of smoke and charred flesh around him, he knew that his obsession with her was only beginning.