C228 NOT FORGET WHAT IT HAS SEEN

Aria knew fear.

She had lived with it all her life - the silent kind that broke into mortal villages at night, the kind that sat beside empty bowls and broken doors, the kind that whispered you are small, you are fragile, and you do not matter.

But this fear was different.

This fear had a heartbeat.

The Blood Kingdom did not declare its power. It breathed it — slow, heavy, deliberate