[Atlas P.O.V.]
The wind bit harder at the edge of Moon Stone territory.
It carried something sharp beneath the cold: ash, smoke, the distant tang of magic burned wrong. I stood atop the lookout ridge on the northern border, eyes scanning the treeline as the early morning light cut through the mist. The trees looked like rows of sentinels, each one still and silent, but I knew better.
They were watching us too.
Michael stood a few paces behind me, arms folded, tension drawn tight across his shoulders. “Still nothing?”
“Not yet,” I said, jaw clenched. “But they’re out there.”
He didn’t argue. Neither of us had slept much since the scouts reported movement near the Ice Howler boundary line. They hadn’t crossed openly, of course. Kayn wasn’t stupid. But rogue attacks were a message all t
