The territory didn’t sleep that night.
Even after the conversations faded and the grounds emptied, tension lingered in the air like something waiting to break through. Guards rotated more frequently. Scouts moved in and out quietly. Every sound carried farther than it should have in the silence.
Lyra stood on the balcony outside Kael’s quarters, staring out at the dark outline of the forest beyond the boundary. From this distance, everything looked calm.
It wasn’t.
She could feel it.
The pressure.
The anticipation.
The growing sense that they were standing one wrong move away from something irreversible.
“You’ve been out here too long.”
Kael’s voice came from behind her, lower now in the quiet of the night.
Lyra didn’t turn immediately. “I needed air.”
“You needed space to think
