Chapter 23
The knock came at dawn.
Three slow, deliberate strikes on the sanctuary’s main gate.
Kael was the first to respond, sword drawn, frost coiling in the air like breath.
He swung open the heavy wooden doors.
And froze.
A little girl stood alone in the mist.
Barefoot.
Blue-lipped.
And wearing a dress made of ashes and snow.
But that wasn’t what made Kael’s stomach drop.
The girl looked exactly like Elira.
The Gateborn Secret
Meanwhile, Elira stormed into the inner sanctum where Elder Rhys sat among glowing runes and memory roots.
“I want the truth,” she said, slamming the blood-marked journal onto the table.
Rhys barely blinked.
“You already know part of it,” he said.
“But not all of it.”
He gestured for her to sit, but she remained standing.
“The Gateborn weren’t
