Wings of Defiance

Lucian Vael has spent his life running from the miracles that haunt him, from the storm in his blood, and most of all, from the gods who watch him with silent judgment. His body heals wounds that should kill him. His anger summons gales that level buildings. And when death came for a child in a collapsing hospital, he flew for the first time not with grace, but with the desperate fury of a man who refuses to be the monster the world fears. When Princess Isabella of Spain reveals she’s dreamed of him since childhood of his wings, his sorrow, and the choice he must make Lucian realizes the truth: the gods have marked him not as a savior, but as a test. They believe humanity, given power, will always become cruel. And he is their proof. Determined to defy them, Lucian flies to Seville, where Isabella shows him the ancient pact the gods will bless the world only when a demigod chooses to relinquish his power without coercion. But the moment he resolves to do so, his abilities spiral out of control: his touch withers crops, his nightmares summon hurricanes, and the Vatican brands him the Antichrist. In the final trial beneath Toledo’s cathedral, the gods offer their cruelest temptation a vision of his future son, a golden-haired prince who could unite nations if Lucian keeps his power and rules as a tyrant. Instead, he kneels. He begs. And with Isabella’s hand in his, he lets the storm in his veins fade to silence. The gods, stunned by his defiance, grant their first mercy in millennia: not just peace, but a legacy. Years later, Lucian now a scholar, teaching his children to tend olive groves rather than thrones watches as his eldest son is crowned King of Spain. As the boy pledges to rule with mortal hands and a divine heart, a single white feather drifts onto the crown. The gods, it seems, have finally learned to hope.