(Maria POV)
The mountain didn’t sleep.
Not after what had happened.
The Hollow Stone Council’s chamber was sealed—wards snapped into place, runes drawn in frantic silence by quaking hands. The guards paced the perimeter. Several elders had fled the chamber before sunrise, mumbling about omens, curses, and prophecies coming true.
But Maria remained.
She sat near the center of the now-cracked dais, blood crusted on her palms, her skin still humming with residual power. Luca and Joseph stood close, alert, their presence both a shield and a comfort. Outside, the mountain winds howled like spirits mourning a long-lost truth.
“I saw her,” Maria whispered, finally breaking the silence. “The First Luna.”
Joseph crouched beside her, brushing a smudge of soot from her cheek. “And she saw you.
