The air still smelled like smoke and iron.
I stood on the edge of the battlefield, the soil beneath my boots soaked with blood—some ours, some theirs. The bodies had been cleared, the wounded taken into the infirmary, and yet the silence screamed louder than the battle itself.
Elias walked up beside me. He didn’t say anything at first. His presence alone grounded me. His arm brushed mine, and I turned my head slightly, meeting his eyes.
“We won,” he said flatly.
I let out a shaky breath. “If you call this a win.”
He tilted his head. “We’re alive. That counts.”
I shifted my gaze to the horizon. The sun was beginning to rise, casting a pale orange glow over the ruins of what used to be our northern watchtower. “Magnus’s forces are scattered,” I murmured. “But that doesn’t mean he’s don
