{VAL}
Daimon would know.
And not only him.
Every creature drawn to power would sense her awakening eventually. Vampires, warlocks, cursed seers, and ancient beasts slumbering beyond the veil between realms—they would all turn their attention toward her the moment her arcane fully surfaced.
Predators were instinctive by nature.
And power was blood in the water.
I closed my eyes briefly before exhaling through my nose.
It no longer mattered.
From the very beginning, the only reason I had spared her life—allowed her to remain within the academy walls—was because she could prove useful to me someday.
Nothing more.
At least, that was the lie I had repeated often enough to almost believe.
She could help me fight Daimon.
She could become the key to truths buried beneath centuries of bloodshed, betrayal, and forgotten history. Perhaps even the answer I had spent centuries searching for.
And if she came to hate me for using her in the end…
