Chapter 181. A Life for His

Xerina’s POV

The silence that followed Rasmus and Valeria’s disappearance was suffocating, like the world itself had stopped breathing. The battlefield, once alive with the chaos of war, was now eerily still. My pulse echoed loudly in my ears, the only sound in a world that felt like it was collapsing in on itself.

I staggered to my feet, my body screaming in protest. Luca was by my side in an instant, his eyes wide with panic, his fur matted with blood. But I couldn’t focus on him. I couldn’t focus on anything except the gaping wound in the earth where Rasmus and Valeria had been swallowed by the darkness.

“No… no, no, no,” I whispered, my voice trembling. I felt like I was breaking, every part of me shattering under the weight of what I’d just seen. Rasmus was gone. He was gone, and I was too late.

“Xerina!” Luca shouted, shaking me. “We have to move! We’re still under attack!”

But his words barely reached me. My gaze was locked on that black v