The voice evaporated, and what remained was heavier than sound. Silence settled over the forest until the air felt strange, like the world had exhaled and forgotten how to inhale again. Somewhere deep in the trees, something had shifted.
The First Wolf had returned.
If that was truth, then every border we had drawn, every treaty we had signed, every fragile peace we had built would splinter.
I stared into the black between the trees and waited for steel, for a howl, for the sky to tear open. Nothing moved. That stillness was worse than violence. An enemy that does not strike has already decided the outcome.
Kael re-entered the castle with footsteps that made no sound. The man I knew spoke in orders. He carved plans from chaos. Tonight he offered none of that.
I followed him to his stu
