The city stood suspended in a hush—time itself tangled in celestial thread. The Tribunal's freeze had silenced the bells of Vale, but not the fire burning beneath Zara's skin. Her body ached with the weight of too many prophecies, too much grief, and the power coiling beneath her child’s heartbeat. Something inside her was changing.Ruby found her by the old hearth at dusk, a place once used for blessing warriors before battle. Zara sat cross-legged on the stone floor, a circle of unlit candles around her, moonlight streaking silver over her arms."You look like you swallowed a storm," Ruby said, crouching beside her."Maybe I did," Zara murmured. "Or maybe I’m becoming one."Ruby dropped a satchel in front of her. Its clasp bore the Vale crest, faded but intact. "Found it. Took a hell of a fight with the ice wards, but it was right where your mother said it would be."Zara opened the satchel slowly. Inside, beneath a velvet cloth, lay a bone-handled dagger, its blade etched in old fl
Last Updated : 2025-07-30 Read more