Chapter 47
Elara’s POV
The army had moved steadily north, reclaiming villages and fortresses from Kael’s rebels. But every victory seemed too easy, too neat—like stepping through a door that had been deliberately left ajar.
When we reached Caelora, a city once prosperous for its silver mines, I understood why.
The gates hung from their hinges. The streets were lined with abandoned homes, windows shattered, doors torn from their frames. The stench of death lingered, faint but undeniable, mixed with smoke that had sunk into stone.
I dismounted, ignoring the guards who moved to surround me. The people who had survived trickled into the square, faces hollow, eyes sunken from hunger. Children clung to their mothers’ skirts, too quiet, too still.
I forced myself to smile. “You are safe now
