The frost clung to the edge of the tents, melting only where firelight touched the canvas. Selene stirred before dawn. She hadn’t intended to wake. Her body was still heavy, her limbs woven around Ronan’s, their warmth shared like breath between trees. But her mind—her mind had begun preparing before her eyes ever opened.
It knew something she hadn’t spoken aloud yet.
This was the last morning before everything shifted. This was not just war, it was a legacy or maybe call it Fate. The final cost of returning. She slipped from Ronan’s embrace slowly, careful not to wake him, and stepped barefoot onto the cold earth.
The camp was still, suspended in the hush that only came before a storm or a funeral. The banners lay limp in the windless dark. The warriors, restless even in sleep, lay cur
