Smoke curled into the sky where the Tower of Embers once stood. Kael stared at the blackened crater, wind brushing against his burnt cloak.
"Is it really over?" Eira asked softly.
Kael didn't respond. His gaze was fixed on the spot where Varyn fell. The man who raised him, then tried to destroy him, was finally gone.
Ashenfang let out a low growl. The beast sensed it too—something was still wrong.
Kael looked to the horizon. "This wasn't the end. It was a door."
A door to what, none of them yet knew. But Kael had made peace with his past.