Vera's voice erupted with a power she didn't know she possessed. It wasn't just a shout; it was a magical shockwave. A blast of violet frost exploded from her body, so violent and absolute that it physically threw Kassian back three steps. The floor between them turned to solid, jagged ice in an instant, and the temperature in the room plummeted to sub-zero, the fire in the hearth dying with a pathetic hiss.
Kassian gasped, his boots sliding on the ice as he regained his balance. He looked at her, his eyes wide with shock, the red glow flickering in surprise. He had never heard her raise her voice. He had never seen her fight back.
Vera stood in the center of the room, her copper hair swirling around her head like a storm, her skin glowing with a divine, iridescent light. But it was her face—the raw, bleeding heartbreak written in every line of her features—that stopped his heart.
