Selene’s POV
The moment the fire died, silence swallowed the council chamber.
It wasn’t the kind of quiet that follows an extinguished flame; it was the kind that listens back.
The frost on the table gleamed like a mirror. Kael’s reflection, pale and strained, looked older than the man who stood beside me.
He moved first.
“Eryndor,” he said, his voice steady but low. “Find out what touched the wards.”
Before the witch could answer, the sound came again — a faint ripple through the stone, like a deep breath drawn inside the walls themselves. The torches along the corridor flickered as if something brushed past them.
Eryndor’s head tilted, eyes narrowing. “It’s not inside anymore,” he murmured. “But it’s not gone.”
“What was it?” I asked.
He looked at me briefly, then away. “A remin
