Chapter 448 – Flames
Across the street, nothing remained but blackened skeletal frames—foundations ripped apart, second floors collapsed inward, walls cracked and covered with the crisscrossed yellow tape of mortal authorities.
And not just the orphanage.
The entire block had gone up in flames.
Shops. Apartments. A medical clinic. A bakery.
All of it.
Burned like it had been designed to burn together.
Lux's jaw flexed.
His breath fogged briefly in the chilled air. He didn't notice.
Because his heart wasn't racing.
It was steady.
And slow.
Too slow for how loud the world felt.
Static prickled in the back of his neck. His power, still suppressed under the suit, pressed against the inside of his bones like it wanted out.
Behind him, a flutter of wings.
A weight landed on his shoulder.
Corvus.
The crow's feathers were slick, darker than the shadows, eyes glowing.
"Yeah," Corvus rasped in his usual rough voice. "Those people. Over there."
