Lincoln's POV:
From my balcony, the city looked like nothing changed—lanterns glowing, streets alive with everyone roaming—but I knew better now. I knew how thin the skin of peace really was. How many layers lay beneath it. How much effort it took to keep the world appearing ordinary.
Ayaana and I stayed where we were long after the Council’s presence faded. The others wandered around—Star and Sky first, then Chris and Akira, then Crisha and Amir—until we all stood together again in the sanctuary chamber, the doors open to the night breeze.
No one rushed to speak.
That silence wasn’t awkward, but it's more comforting.
Amir finally broke it, as he often did.
“The Pale Verge isn’t a battlefield,” he said. “It’s like a wound.”
Crisha nodded slowly. “A realm whose laws never finished st
