"My body was no longer my own; it had become the battlefield for a war I could not see."
ELIAS POV
It was early morning, and I awoke to the terrifying, all-consuming sensation of being utterly on fire. It was not a gentle warmth, or even the familiar, grounding heat of being bonded with Alaric during deep rest. This was something aggressive, primal, and entirely foreign. My entire body was slick with sweat, every nerve ending screaming with a powerful, disorienting heat that had pulled me violently from a profound, necessary sleep. It felt as though my very essence was boiling under my skin.
I gasped, pushing myself up onto my elbows. The silk sheets were damp, clinging uncomfortably to my skin, and the air in the vast royal chamber, usually regulated to a perfect, crisp temperature by the Keep's complex wards, felt thick and suffocating. The room itself seemed to be rejecting the intense thermal energy radiating off me.
