Chapter 148 The Prince's Curse

• Xavier****
• The storm had not passed. It lingered, restless, as if it too sensed the battle was far from over. Thunder rumbled in the distance, a fading echo of the chaos that had unfolded below. The sky churned with swollen clouds, heavy with the weight of the battle’s aftermath. Rain had thinned to a whisper, yet the battlefield remained drenched—soaked in blood, in loss, in the echoes of war that refused to be silenced.
• Henry lay motionless in my arms, his breaths shallow but steady—each fragile inhale a reminder of how close we had come to losing him. The weight of his body against mine grounded me, an anchor against the storm of blood and ruin surrounding us. He had fought harder than any of us, given everything to keep us standing. And now, his body bore the cost of that sacrifice. My fingers trembled as I brushed damp hair from his forehead, caught between the relief that he was alive and the gnawing dread of what lay ahead. The abyss had not just claimed Dean—it had opened a door to something far worse, something we might not be able to stop.