The Keep became a forge of blood and steel.
Daybreak found the courtyards alive with the sound of training. Wolves tore into each other on the sand until their teeth were stained red, claws ripping deep into skin that never healed quite quickly enough to be comfortable. Others practiced with blades of steel—dull swords, bruised axes, and spiked clubs torn from the armories and reforged for the first time in years. Black Veil had not sharpened its weapons in decades, and now the air reeked of iron and sweat as if war had already come.
The rituals of preparation returned with brutal speed. Warriors sliced their palms open and smeared the blood on the stone altars. Mothers braided bones into their children’s hair as charms. Young wolves ran back and forth with buckets of sand to soak up the
