Chapter 19 — The Enemy Who Knows Your Name
The first sign is the silence.
Not the peaceful kind.
The wrong kind.
Lyra feels it as she walks the perimeter at dusk, their daughter strapped securely against her chest, Kael a few paces ahead speaking quietly with Rhen. The forest smells clean, but the air feels… held.
Like something is listening.
Her skin prickles.
“Kael,” she says softly.
He turns at once. “You feel it too.”
“Yes.”
They stop.
The patrol wolves tense, hands drifting toward weapons, ears straining for sound.
Then a voice drifts through the trees.
Slow. Mocking. Familiar.
“Luna.”
Lyra’s blood turns to ice.
Selene steps into the clearing as if she owns it.
She looks different—stronger in a way that has nothing to do with muscle. Dark markings trace faintly along
