The Flameborn capital woke to the sound of warhorns.
But it wasn’t a battle cry.
It was a summons.
A delegation had arrived—foreign, draped in crimson and ash, their banner stitched with a symbol Ivy had never seen before: a three-headed serpent, coiled around a broken sun.
Kael stepped beside her as the gates opened.
“Who are they?”
The lead rider removed his helmet.
A woman.
Tall, eyes silver-blue, skin marked with ancient sigils.
“I am Commander Astrid of the Obsidian East,” she declared. “We come in peace—but not in silence.”
Inside the Council chamber, tension choked the air.
The Flameborn Elders sat tall and stiff.
Ivy stood before them, Kael at her side, Ember watching from the shadows.
Commander Astrid removed a scroll from her satchel.
“This is a record sealed by my
