Senna slammed the empty grain store's back room door open and found nothing but an overturned chair and a single dropped ritual component.
"She was here this morning," Senna said, breathless, having ridden hard to catch up with Kane's returning group the moment they reached Dustbridge's gate. "I checked on her before the fighting reached Ferris. She seemed fine, exhausted but fine."
"Any sign of struggle," Kane said, crouching to examine the room.
"None," Senna said. "Same as Vessa's cottage. She left on her own."
Kane's stomach tightened further, the parallel unsettling given everything they'd just learned about Vessa's coerced departure. "Or she was threatened the same way Vessa was, and left quietly to avoid dragging anyone else into danger."
Talyn, examining the dropped ritual com
