Back at the estate, Jaxon stood on the balcony with Sienna.
The moon bathed them in quiet silver.
“They’ll come again,” she said.
“Let them,” Jaxon replied. “This time, we don’t break. We rise.”
Below them, the estate shimmered with new wards.
Above them, the second moon waited.
And all around them, war listened.
Eleanor sat in the observatory, watching the stars shift.
Isolde stood behind her, scrolling through intercepted Council feeds.
“I found a word,” she said. “Buried in a corrupted file.”
Eleanor glanced up. “What word?”
“Project Bastion.”
The room fell silent.
“What is it?” Isolde asked.
“Something the Council dreamed of during the First Fracture,” Eleanor murmured. “But never had the means to complete.”
Isolde’s voice was tight. “Until now.”
Nathaniel entered. “W
