Nolan POV
Grief hit me like a physical blow.
Not the sharp, immediate kind I’d felt when I thought Ellie was lost. Not panic or terror or the hollow dread that came with imagining a future ripped away before it could even begin.
This was colder.
It settled into my chest and stayed there, crushing, unyielding, stealing the air from my lungs in a way no blade ever had.
I hadn’t been close to Alaric.
I’d respected him. Feared him, once. Fought him more than once—directly or indirectly. We’d disagreed on politics, on leadership, on how much power any one person should be allowed to wield.
But he had trusted me. He had protected my family when I couldn’t. He had supported us as we struggled to make a fresh start together.
And more than that—
He had loved Ell
