Nymera’s POV
They thought the First Howl was chaos.
They thought the dagger god was stillness.
But the third?
It was something else entirely.
A spiral.
A symbol that didn’t burn or freeze.
It pulled.
Like gravity around a dying star. Like a whisper curling in your ear that sounded like your own voice.
I felt it the moment Graeven dropped the torn banner at our feet.
The fire mark on my shoulder sizzled.
The ice mark on my collarbone ached.
And something beneath both of them stirred—like a third heartbeat rising to meet the others.
“There were only supposed to be two,” Dain said.
We stood at the edge of the clearing as the sun bled behind the mountains, the banner lying between us like a curse we couldn’t outrun.
“Two gods,” Kaelith added. “Two marks. Two doors.”
“Then why i
