Chapter 254: The Fae realm.
Alekin, though strong in posture, looked broken. This was a farewell, and he knew it. The kind that split a heart in two. Hector knew it too. He had felt that exact ache. The day his mother died... and again, a year later, when their world went to hell. The rebellion had torched their village. He had run through fire, desperate to find one person, Lora. Her house was ablaze. No signs of her, only screams and smoke.
Now, standing here, he looked at her. And she was already looking at him.
She had been watching him the whole time.
His heart thudded strangely in his chest.
"Enough," Benkin muttered, his voice cracking. "Please, end this miserable farewell already. Alekin, be cautious, my death makes plenty of people happy."
He closed his eyes. He had said everything that mattered. Words now only deepened the pain. It was time. Time to surrender, to the judgment of the Fae.
The portal swallowed them in a flash of sharp, piercing light. Hector instinctively shielded his eyes, but even through closed lids, the brilliance seared across his vision like a blade.
Then, snow.
White, endless snow stretched across the land like a shroud. A thick, ominous cloud hovered above, swallowing the sky. The air was so crisp it almost whistled through their bones.
"Winter here too," Ren muttered, tightening her cloak around her belly.
"Yes. I’m taking you to the Winter Palace."