Elias paced restlessly through the corridors of the command ship, his thoughts heavy with the weight of what was to come. The pressure on Lena was suffocating, and his concern for her was starting to overshadow everything else.He had seen the way the core had begun to change her. Her eyes were sharper, colder. There were times when he swore he saw her struggle to pull herself back from the edge, but the power that surged within her was too overwhelming. The temptation to use it, to embrace it fully, was growing stronger by the day.And yet, Elias couldn't bring himself to condemn her. What choice did she have?But deep down, he knew that even the smallest misstep could send Lena down a path she could never return from. The Rhytil had already started playing their game. They had no interest in simply defeating the alliance—they wanted to break Lena, to make her doubt herself, to push her so far that she would willingly sacrifice everything for the power of the core.He couldn't let that happen. He couldn't lose her to the very thing they were fighting against.