He took my bandaged hand in his and pressed his forehead against my knee. To Valeria, it must have looked like a total collapse, the Great Warlord being reduced to a supplicant. But to me, it felt like the ultimate declaration of war. He wasn't kneeling in weakness; he was kneeling in alignment.
"Seraphina," he whispered, his voice vibrating through my very bones. "They want to turn you back into a battery. They want to put you in a cage and call it safety. They think they can bargain for your light."
I reached out, my fingers tracing the silver embroidery on his Warlord's coat. "And what do you think, Kaelen?"
Kaelen looked up at me. The emerald fire in his eyes was gone, replaced by a deep, dark clarity. "I think the Council is right. I think you are a weapon. And I think it's time we showed them what happens when a weapon decides to lead the army."
