Chapter 154: The Cost of Power

The late afternoon sun bathed the capital in golden light as Conor stood next to Kerrigan, his eyes scanning the crowd gathered for the press conference.

People had come in droves, eager to hear Kerrigan speak, to rally behind her cause in the ever-escalating trial against Kelan Benedict. The courtyard was filled with murmurs of anticipation, the tension in the air thick and palpable.

Conor’s heart pounded, though not from the anxiety of the public event. It was something deeper—a gnawing sense of unease that had been building within him for days. Celia’s power, ever present inside him, had begun to feel different.

Stronger, yes, but also less controlled. He and Kerrigan had always been able to rely on the golden motes of light that manifested when their dragons’ energies connected, a symbol of the balance between Celia’s wisdom and Abraxas’s raw force.

But lately, those moments of harmony had grown more tenuous, slipping just out of their grasp.

As Kerrigan took the stage, her voice c