Janice
Janice felt it before she saw anything.
The tremor in the territory wasn’t loud. It wasn’t visible. It was a subtle loosening — like a stitch pulled too tight finally giving way.
She stood at the edge of the courtyard, gaze fixed on the tree line beyond the outer path.
Two figures slipped past the outer courtyard arch and into the service path that curved toward the woods.
Janice did not react immediately. A queen never ran toward disruption. She allowed it to reveal itself.
But when the air shifted again — faint, almost imperceptible — her patience thinned.
She turned from the balcony.
Rowan was still awake. Of course he was.
She found him in the council room with Taren reviewing patrol logs. Both looked up when she entered.
“You felt it,” she said.
Rowan’s expression ga
