Elena
*****Dawn — The Ravine of Bones*****
Silence after battle is never quiet.
It rang in my ears, sharp and wrong, as the first gray light crept over the shattered ravine. Smoke still curled from broken stone. Ash clung to armor, hair, skin.
The ground was torn open in dozens of places, as if the earth itself had tried to escape what walked upon it last night.
Seraphina was gone.
But she had not been defeated.
That truth settled deep in my chest, heavy and cold.
“She didn’t retreat,” I said softly. “She repositioned.”
Chase stood beside me, jaw tight, scanning the horizon. “She was testing us.”
“Yes,” Lucian said from behind us. “And now she knows exactly what she needs.”
I turned. He hadn’t slept. None of us had. Blood stained his hands, not his own. His presence felt darker
