The stone veranda felt smaller as the five of them gathered around the heavy oak table. The scent of roasted meat was ignored, replaced by the sharp, metallic tang of tension that always preceded blood.
Kaelen’s POV
I leaned forward, my shadow stretching across the table toward Kenna. I didn't care about the feast; I cared about the scouts I knew were breathing down our necks. Fenris was a low growl in the back of my mind, his golden eyes fixed on the treeline beyond the balcony.
'The marsh-trackers are close, Kaelen,' Fenris warned, his voice like grinding stones. 'They are hunting her heartbeat. They don't want the land; they want the Queen.'
"Kenna, stop looking at the map and look at me," I said, my voice dropping to a low, commanding rumble that made the silver glasses on the tabl
