Tion’s POV
The fire in the war room had burned very low, reduced to a heart of glowing embers. They pulsed in the dark like the heartbeat of some dying creature, breathing a faint warmth into the otherwise cold air. I’d been sitting there for hours all alone, and unmoving, not because I had nothing to do, but because the quiet was sometimes the only place I could really hear myself think.
The scent of ash clung to me, settling deep in my clothes, mixing with the smell of the old maps spread everywhere and across the scarred old table. Territories, routes, pack lines and boundaries… every one of them marked by the blood that had been spilled to hold them.
My mind was halfway to planning the next patrol shift when I heard the sound of footsteps that were purposeful but hesitant coming dow
