Chapter 137. Faded

Xerina’s POV

I couldn’t remember his face.

The name Rasmus lingers at the edges of my mind, like a whisper on the wind, faint and distant. It should mean something. It should stir a memory, an emotion. But it doesn’t. It’s hollow. Empty. A name, nothing more. A name I’ve been told to hate. A name I’ve been told I must destroy.

The fire in my veins tells me more. It hums beneath my skin, power curling in my fingers, twisting in the air around me. It promises me something greater, something more than just the fragments of memories I’ve long since discarded. I am more than that. More than whatever I was before. More than whoever he is.

My eyes flicker to Zane, standing beside me, his presence a constant, steady force. He understands. He knows the power in me, the storm brewing beneath my skin. He sees the goddess I’ve become, the ruler I’m meant to be. He never doubts it. He never doubts me.

Together, we will reshape this world. Not as it is