Leofric's POV
Smoke bled into the sky, curling into the clouds like a promise we couldn't keep. The edge of the ruins stank of blood and wet ash. Bodies of rogues lay broken in the mud, teeth bared in death, eyes glassed over. But none of them were her.
She stood beneath the twisted arch of what used to be a temple gate, draped in a cloak of night. Obsidian eyes met mine, and the same pulse that had flared between Morwenna and me thrummed faintly in the air. It wasn’t power. It was recognition.
Morwenna stepped beside me, breath sharp in her throat. "She’s waiting."
"For you."
The woman didn’t speak. Not yet, she looked at Morwenna like a historian might study an ancient text—curious, reverent, but also calculating. She moved with a grace that made the earth hold its breath.
"Daughte
