Aria’s POV)
The Hollow had never felt this awake.
By dawn, the veins in the stone still glowed faintly gold and silver, the lingering echo of what she and Kael had done in the Gate Chamber. The pulse beneath the ground beat steady now, no longer the erratic rhythm of a place haunted by the Deep. But the quiet wasn’t peace. It was waiting.
Aria stood on the ridge above the Hollow, the mist curling around her boots as the first hints of morning spilled through the broken canopy. Below, figures moved between the stone paths, her people, Kael’s people. Wolves.
The Clan had gathered.
They came from the outer dens and the high spires, called back by word that the Deep had risen and the Hollow had changed. Warriors, healers, trackers, every face shadowed by fatigue and fear, yet lit by a fra
