Corvin froze. The color drained from his face, leaving him looking older, haunted. Ivy saw it instantly this wasn't some distant threat. He knew exactly what the scout meant.
"You know that banner," she said.
"I know who used to carry it," Corvin said, his voice barely above a whisper. Grief flickered in his eyes, tangled with something else. "Sixty years ago, when the purge started, I wasn't the only historian who saw what was coming. There was another. A colleague. A friend. She was braver than I ever was. I hid in the shadows, writing down what I could, hoping not to be noticed. She fought back."
"Fight how?" Kaelan asked.
"She built something," Corvin said. "A network. Survivors. Sympathizers. Anyone who refused to just sit and watch the throne's purge. She wanted to fight back, no
