I watched them — the man I loved, and the woman who made his life possible. It was like witnessing a collision of two different eras. A jagged piece of history had finally snapped into place. I felt a strange, humming warmth in my chest, a resonance that hadn’t faded, even after the rift closed.
“Archonessa,” I tested the word. It didn’t feel heavy like the mountain lair. It felt like a title earned through quartz and blood.
“Come,” Gisela urged, beckoning us toward the large, arched windows that looked out over the town square. “They’ve been gathering since the first light hit the Cairns. They know the resonance has changed. They can feel the balance.”
I walked to the window and looked down. The square was packed now. I saw the trolls I had noticed earlier, their massive stone should
