NARRATOR

Sigrid knew it even before it touched her skin—it was pure poison.

She raised her hand, and hundreds of ravens flooded the dark shadows, piercing through the storm, merging into one another, hardening to form a giant shield that protected her people.

But the shield was flawed—it had a gaping hole, right above her.

"Sigrid, what are you doing?!" Aldric roared, trying to rush to her aid, but his daughter completely blocked him with a barrier.

From a distance, Valeria watched in panic as the power of the Selenias, the very power they had worked so hard to refine and gather, protected the army—but not her daughter.

"Sigrid, no, daughter, no, please," she began to cry, calling to her through their bond, but Sigrid didn't hear her. She only looked at the man above her.

"I am yours, and you are mine. You are not Umbros, nor Gray—you are Silas. Only my Silas," her lips trembled with the last syllables, whispered softly, but she knew he could hear her.

The black droplets were falling