I am Bastian Lombardi. Head of Veridia's underworld, the name men whisper when they pray they won't meet me. Power is my birthright, loyalty my only currency. Love? A weakness I was never afforded—until my father bound me to her. My wife. A contract, a duty, nothing more. Or so I told myself. But then came her son, a boy untouched by this world's darkness. They were never part of my plan. Yet now, they are mine—and I will burn the world before I let anyone take them from me.