CHAPTER 87
A Century Ago
The war encampment was still, the atmosphere filled with tension and heaviness. They did not have to speak but the tension in their shoulders was palpable. The war room echoed with movement, maps rolled, armors fitted, scouts reporting every breeze passing over the eastern ridge. Wolves trained from sunrise till dawn, the clanging of steel and barking of orders rising like thunder down the mountain.
But beneath it all there was an eerie silence.
Heavy.
Like the first waiting for the flame.
Irene moved through the camp like a ghost. To the soldiers, she was her usual composed, strategic, and regal self. She reviewed formation changes, assessed reports, and consulted directly with the high generals.
But under the surface, a storm was brewing within her. She
