Emily Rosewood’s Point of View.
The Hollow – the day we executed a traitor and marched to finish a war
The camp outside Ebonhold had settled into a strained silence. Torches flickered low against the carved stone pillars that jutted like ribs from the earth, casting long shadows over the wounded and the wary. The air smelled of ash, silver, and unease.
I sat at the edge of the med-tent, staring at the girl who should have been sleeping.
But Kira’s eyes were open—black, rimmed in crimson, the same strange glow that had flared when the Crown Below had touched her spirit. Her wrists bore the marks of restraint, but she was calm now, breathing in shallow, mechanical inhales.
“She’s stable,” Lyra murmured beside me. “But it’s a false calm. Her soul is still bound to the curse. The Crown Be
