The next morning came like a bruise.
The forest hadn’t breathed once through the night. No birds. No wind. No whisper of beasts between the trees. Just stillness. Heavy and full. Like the world was waiting for something to move first—and terrified that it would.
Aelira sat against the temple wall, her cloak wrapped around the glowing child in her arms. She hadn’t slept. Not really. The baby—if she could even call it that—didn’t cry. Didn’t sleep. It just watched, eyes wide and strange and too quiet. It blinked rarely, and when it did, she could feel the shift in the air around it. Like reality had to pause and remember itself.
Astren sat a few feet away, watching her with that same unreadable look. Tense. Wrecked. Devoted in a way that didn’t seem entirely sane anymore.
“You haven’t sa
