Morwenna's POV
Ash clung to my skin like memory. Thick. Bitter. Permanent. The remnants of battle hadn’t yet settled across the ruined palace when I felt the ripple in the air. Not sound. Not scent. Something older. Something watching.
Sabine’s words echoed through me like a drumbeat: Half celestial. A creature of two worlds. I wasn’t sure what that meant yet, but my blood remembered.
The corridors of the palace were still, too still. I moved carefully through the north wing, barefoot, clothed in a shift still stained with fire and smoke. My fingers tightened around the shard at my hip. Leofric had insisted I stay hidden until he dealt with the remnants of the Council. I didn’t listen.
I couldn’t.
I didn’t trust stillness. It was the breath before the scream.
Near the training yard,
