KAEL
We washed up and went downstairs together. The house felt tighter with all of us inside it, like the walls were holding their breath.
Aria drifted through the room without settling anywhere. She tried to look uninterested in the books laid out in front of Karin and Mireya, but her attention kept slipping. Her gaze lingered too long.
She slowed as she passed the shelves, letting her fingers trail over the wood and worn spines. Dust clung to her skin. It was absent, almost instinctive, like she was reaching for something she couldn’t name.
My wolves moved without direction, circling the space again and again. Markel stayed close to the walls, jaw tight. None of them could relax. Magic soaked into the stone and wood, old and restless. It crawled under the skin. The kind that didn’
