Rowan
The moment it happened, I felt it.
The pain hit so suddenly and violently that the breath tore out of my lungs. For a split second I thought I had been struck. My hand went instinctively to my ribs as I staggered slightly beside the council table.
There was nothing there but the pain was real. It burned across my side like claws tearing through flesh, the sensation was sharp, brutal, and completely out of place in a room that had been filled with quiet strategy only moments before.
My chair scraped violently across the floor as I stood and the council chamber fell silent.
Across the table, Ulath’s pale eyes lifted slowly toward me. He had not felt the pain the way I had, but he had felt something. The forest itself had shifted, and that alone was enough to draw his attention.
“
