Ash still clung to the wind.
It rode the high currents like smoke from a forgotten pyre—seared wood, scorched stone, and the blood of those who had witnessed the Council’s collapse.
I stood at the ridgeline, Kael beside me, and watched the last flickers of flame die out where the Council's meeting hall had once stood. Its grand spires were gone. The ancient glass had melted into obsidian puddles, slick and glinting in the moonlight.
Kael’s hand was tight around mine, blood crusted in the lines of his knuckles. He hadn't spoken in hours. Neither had I.
Because what we’d done… couldn’t be undone.
We hadn't just defied the Council.
We’d broken it.
And the cost of that was already rising in the wind.
Kael finally turned to me. His voice was rough, raw. “They’ll come for us now. Not jus
