CHAPTER 27:
Timeline: Dawn of the Attack
The sky was still bruised purple and deep grey when the first howl tore through the valley. It rose from the northern treeline, long and sharp, cutting through the quiet before dawn, and in an instant the whole house woke. Doors slammed. Boots thudded against floorboards. The air shifted, turning heavy and sharp with the scent of ozone and coming blood. I stood at the upper window, my bow strapped across my back, a dagger at my hip, watching the horizon bleed pale gold. Beside me, Kael’s hand rested on the sill, his knuckles white, the Twin Crown mark burning bright enough to see through his shirt.
“They are here,” he said, quiet but certain. “I can feel them. Every one of them. And the thing they brought—it is waiting at the back of their format
