(Kaelen)
The first sign is a dead crow on the front gate.
I almost miss it. I'm coming back from the morning training session, shoulder loose and warm, and it's Joss who sees it first — she stops walking and I stop because she stopped and we both look at it together. One crow, left wing spread, laid precisely on top of the gate post. Not fallen. Placed.
"Old signal," Joss says. Flat.
"What does it mean."
"Means someone wants us to know they're watching." She looks at me sideways. "Specifically watching you."
It turns out to be a faction. That's the word Sora uses when she briefs us that afternoon — *faction,* like it's a policy disagreement, like it's something manageable and contained. Seven wolves who served Dorian's rogue operation and dispersed when he fell, who have apparently s
