KING MAGNUS'S POV
The sight of Selene standing before me felt like a blow to the chest. I couldn't speak for a moment, my mind racing as a torrent of emotions surged through me—shock, confusion, and disbelief. Ten years. It had been ten years since I buried my first mate, Selene Blackwood, after she was murdered by someone I had trusted with my life.
I thought she was gone forever. And yet, here she was, alive and standing in front of me and Aria.
Aria.
I turned to her, my heart clenching at the look on her face. Shock and betrayal filled her wide, tear-brimmed eyes, her lips pressed together as though she were holding back the torrent of emotions threatening to spill out.
This wasn't what I wanted. I had moved on, or so I thought. But now that Selene was here, why did everything feel so tangled, so wrong?
"Who is she, Magnus?" Selene's voice was soft, her words trembling as if she already feared the answer.
