The meeting broke with assignments that felt like breathing again: ward patrol rotations, food runs under witch cover, a training schedule that included “nap windows” because their generals were all under one year old. People needed tasks. Tasks meant they weren’t just prey.
In the corridor, Grayson touched her elbow. “Walk?”
They found a strip of quiet along the north line where water pipes sang faintly, and the ward shimmer made the air look as though heat hovered above summer pavement. Grayson leaned his shoulder to the stone and watched her face.
“Say the worst of it,” Ravyn said, bracing. “I can take it.”
He huffed a breath. “You think I’m here to punish you?”
“No,” she said honestly. “I think you’re here to tell me what your wolf thought about last night.”
“My wolf wanted to te
