[Emma's POV]
The disengagement of the Lazarus Seal was not a switch being flipped, but the slow, reluctant exhalation of a held breath that had lasted for weeks. A deep, foundational thrum receded, fading into the stones of Blackwood Manor like a retreating tide, leaving behind a startling, vulnerable silence.
They did not steal away like thieves in the night. They departed in the grim, grey light of pre-dawn, a calculated statement of defiance. The heavy gates, scarred from past sieges, swung open not on silent hinges, but with a groaning protest that echoed across the still estate.
Two hulking, armored motorcycles, their matte-black surfaces drinking the weak light, stood in the forecourt. Jaxon mounted one, his posture the unyielding backbone of their endeavor. Emma, clad in dark, p
