"Beneath the weight of crowns and tides, I found not just a king, but the soul that made me whole."
CAELAN'S POV
Pearl Castle stood scarred, defiant, and whole. Smoke still drifted from the outer walls, and the scent of salt, blood, and ash hung heavily, but the sky above had opened like a wound of light. I stood on the highest terrace, overlooking the sea where Morkai had once walked into death and returned drenched in power no mortal could name. And now he was King and not only of the drowned, but he ruled it all.
"You're quiet again," Morkai's voice broke the stillness behind me, deep as the ocean trench, calm like the tide returning home.
I turned, barely breathing. Gods, even now, he took my breath with a glance. His crown is no longer coral, no longer broken, sat like a storm on his brow, forged from living silver and dark sapphire. The gods had come at dawn, slipping through the veil in robes of wind and tide, and bent knee to him.
