The air didn’t move.
Not even the wind.
Not even the trees.
Rowan’s whisper—“Uncle Elias is alive”—hung in the sacred grove like an unanswered prayer.
Quinn’s heart stopped.
He’d buried his father in his mind a hundred times. In every version, Elias had died a hero. Or a coward. Or something in between. But he was gone.
He was gone.
Quinn shook his head slowly and muttered, "No." "That's not—that's not possible, Rowan, my love.”
Rowan didn’t blink.
“He’s alive.”
Jace glanced between them. “The trial showed you?”
Rowan nodded. “He didn’t speak to me. Not really. But he watched. And he… wept.”
Kairis was deathly pale. “Elias Vale vanished in the Great Split. Everyone assumed—”
“They didn’t assume,” Quinn whispered, anger surfacing like fire through snow. “They lied. They told m
