*Chapter 53: The First Whisper*
Aria’s POV
We didn’t make it a day’s ride from Highreach before the quiet started.
Not the good kind of quiet. The kind that makes your skin crawl because it’s waiting.
Mara felt it first. “Horses are spooked,” she said, pulling her mare to a halt on the ridge road. “Not scared. Unsettled. Like they hear something we don’t.”
Darian had his hand on his blade without thinking about it. “The older thing. Orren meant it.”
Coren was quiet for a long time, staring back toward the city. “The Oath Stone didn’t just show the Debt’s death,” he said finally. “It showed the seal under it. The older seal. It’s been dormant since before the Compact was written.”
I dismounted. The ground under my boots felt wrong. Too still.
“Can it feel us?” I asked.
Core
