Chapter 11
The pyramid trembled before dawn.
Winds howled unnaturally across the desert sky, ripping clouds apart with violet lightning. Clarissa stood on the eastern balcony, her hand resting on her growing belly, eyes squinting at the swirling vortex forming above.
"Something’s coming," she whispered.
Zephyr stepped beside her, draped in a silken robe given by Queen Nerisse, ocean runes still glowing faintly on his chest.
"I know," he replied. "I’ve felt this before. This isn’t divine... this is personal."
And then the sky cracked open.
A golden chariot made of flame and starlight crashed from the clouds, exploding into the dunes with thunderous force. The sands surged in waves like an ocean, blasting half the outer wall of the pyramid with divine shock.
From the crater rose a woman—tall, golden-haired, armored in sunmetal, with a crown of broken halos and burning eyes that spoke of fury, longing... and unfinished love.
> "Zephyr!"
The name came not as a call, but as a judgment.
Clarissa’s breath caught. Serika gripped her twin blades. Virellia’s tail bristled with frostfire.
But Zephyr?