Kael's POVThe news of the Council's collapse reached Nightshade three days after the summit. Messengers arrived with official declarations: Garrett and Celeste were imprisoned, the old Council dissolved, regional assemblies forming to replace centralized power.We had won.So why did victory taste like ash?"The siege is lifting," Luna reported, watching Council forces withdraw from our borders. "They received orders to return to their territories. We are free.""Free and broken," I said, looking at our devastated compound. Half our territory lost. Sixty-seven wolves dead. Supplies nearly gone despite the raid. "What did we win, exactly?""The future," Aria said, returning from the summit with Dante. She looked exhausted but alive. "We won the chance to build something better."I pulled her into my arms, relief overwhelming me. "I thought I lost you.""You almost did," she admitted. "But Dante got us through. He knew every guard rotation, every weak point. Without him, we would have
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