Isabella
The moonlight still clung to the courtyard stones like frost, glowing silver and pale gold across the marble tiles. I stood at my window, hands clenched on the windowsill, my nails digging half-moons into the skin of my palms.
How?
How did it all fall apart?
My howl had always been perfect. Controlled. Trained. Wrapped with the enchantments I had used for years. But last night... nothing. Not even the trees had stirred. No echo. No power. Just silence. Mocking me.
And her.
Seraphina.
The way the torches bowed to her. The way the very wind wept. I saw the seers blink away tears. I heard gasps. I felt the shift. And then the whispers started.
"The Moon's Voice."
That title should have been mine. Again. It always had been.
I turned from the window and paced slowly across th
