Lucian turned toward the eastern ravine before the howl finished echoing.
“That is a Greyhaven signal.”
Marcus tightened his arm across Evelyn’s shoulders as pain climbed through his leg.
“It’s meant to sound like one.”
Lucian looked back. “A missing guard may be calling for help.”
“Then he learned the signal badly,” Evelyn said.
Snow moved between the pines and swallowed the last light.
She stood still beneath Marcus’s weight and listened.
The ravine below had become a blue-black seam. Wind carried sound farther there than it should.
Another call rose.
Two long notes.
One short.
Lucian stepped off the road.
Evelyn caught the back of his coat.
“No.”
He looked down at her hand. “You heard it.”
“I heard someone copy it.”
“The rhythm is correct.”
“Almost.”
Marcus listened t
