Hezekiah felt the river before he saw it.
They felt the air changed first. It was cooler, heavier, and carrying the faint mineral scent of stone and slow-moving water. Night had settled fully now, not the hesitant dusk of earlier but the kind of darkness that listened back when spoken to.
They stopped just short of the bank. Yet, nothing moved.
No reeds stirring. No pressure behind the eyes. No subtle accounting of his presence the way there had been before.
Which meant one of two things. It was gone. Or it was very close.
Seraphine crouched beside him with ease, as though kneeling at a familiar altar. She rested her elbows on her knees, chin propped in her palm, eyes scanning the river with open curiosity rather than auction.
"Well," she murmured lightly. "Either we bored it to dea
