Silence followed the storm.
Not peace but the kind of silence that comes when something vast is holding its breath.
Aurelia stood at the center of the fractured valley, her boots planted in scorched earth that still smoked faintly from the clash that had nearly torn the world apart. The air was heavy, charged, humming with residual power. The sky above was bruised purple and black, clouds frozen in slow, unnatural spirals.
Kane was beside her, injured but upright, blood drying along his jaw. His presence was steady, but even he could feel it.
The Voidborne had not retreated.
It had paused.
Aurelia closed her eyes, drawing in a careful breath. The darkness inside her stirred no longer raging, no longer drowning her but watching. Listening.
“It’s still here,” Kane said quietly.
“Y
