Ariane:
The wind tasted of blood long before I saw it.
High above the fray, I hovered, cloaked in shadow and vengeance, my wings stretched wide and silent.
I could see everything from this height: Kaelen's castle, proud and jagged against the horizon. The approach of our army—a tide of silver and black. Ridge at the front. Bruin was just behind. Their warcries were distant thunder in my ears.
But something was wrong.
Too still. Too quiet.
There were no sentries on the towers. No archers lined along the parapets. The gates had been left cracked open like a mouth waiting to swallow. My heart stilled, cold blooming in my chest.
It was a trap.
"No," I breathed, too late.
Below, the earth cracked apart—not from siege, but by design. A fire roared up in rings—magic, poisoned and ancien
