NORA POV
The dream still lingered.
Blood-red moon. Whispered names. Marek’s voice.
I jolted upright, heart hammering in my chest. The sheets tangled around me like vines.
Something was wrong.
I wasn’t alone.
Kalen was at the window, half-shadowed by moonlight. His silhouette was tense, arms crossed. He hadn’t knocked. He didn’t need to.
“You felt it too,” I said.
He turned. “Every nerve.”
By sunrise, the Citadel buzzed like a live wire.
Eiran summoned the court mages.
Veya scouted the sky for signs.
Caelia stood watch with the Forgotten Guard.
We weren’t prepared for a blood moon. No one ever was.
“They’ve summoned Calrith,” Eiran said under his breath.
Kalen’s jaw locked. “That name again. Who is it?”
“Not who,” Caelia corrected. “What.”
Eiran spread a weathered scroll a
