Eliana POV
It was a burnished gray morning sky, and a little quiet that came before a storm. It is not only the weather, but something denser in the air. Like even the clouds were holding their breath.
I stood in the war tent, watching a map littered with red-marked stones, one in particular pulsing on the outer borderlands, northeast of the river. The council had briefed us with tense words and tighter frowns: a rogue faction had attacked three outposts in the last week, killing three sentries, injuring more. Their motives weren’t clear. Their savagery was.
They weren’t just rogues. They were organized. And coming closer.
“They’re testing us,” Astrid muttered, pacing behind me. “Seeing how long we’ll wait before hitting back.”
“They want a weak Luna,” Kael had said earlier, blunt and
