d against the windows like claws. Guards stood in silence, their armor cold and damp from

s echoed against the marble floor. The torches flickered as he pas

ldn't

rned in him since

The rooftops were wet with rain, but below, torchlights

ched hi

e us," he

him said, "No

as N

ng black hair tangled. Her

ly. "Why are you walking

ion," she sa

were never small. They came l

did yo

g. Wolves howling. A boy standing in the d

Kael ask

r than we did. Too fast. Something's wro

ed red during their last fight, how he had vanished into the forest

protect him,

red. "The villagers? The

The silence was heavy, filled

een did something, didn't she? S

back different. Like something

the hall, towar

now what she

her, forgotten. She held a scroll in her hands, old and cracked

ad, the more he

ken. The land shall echo the

made a

ion and war, she had given power to someth

the hall, he

she said. "T

ooked u

f Green Hollow

ath caught.

No signs. Just... go

feet, the scroll f

tly. And double the guar

e Shadow Court... someone painted

ed ones, the banished ones, the broken ones who serv

w they were real. And

room. He stared into the flames like they were alive. His small h

ispered in

s. You are o

d his head.

he bones. The bl

e flame, and

smi

Nyra flipped through old texts w

e," Kael said. "The blood oat

over his

ls. It was a gift stolen from the

Kael muttered. "But she made us part

ge, and somethin

half. One side white and human-eyed

whispered. "Tha

. "And that's what the peop

. Dozens of villagers, hoods drawn, crept toward th

man with a crooked nose. "Th

walls, unnotice

ing from a rooftop, a

r Va

eamed benea

beside him, tall, we

er," Varek said. "We nee

whispered, "What

widened. "They

t his window again. But this t

aw s

pel," he

igh above the t

anicking in her voice. "T

abbed h

," he shouted.

already drawing steel. Screams echoed through the

ier swung at him. He blocked with his

eyes glowing brighter,

loded in light, blinding the attackers. He

acked under the wei

throne room doors, followed

pening?" sh

Venna said. "They thin

ed, heartbroken. "But n

above them. Draven dropped th

His hands clawed. His mou

!" Amir

didn't

d then at Kael and

sound not human, not

hing

f Cha