Winnie’s POVThe silence that followed the destruction of the Western fleet was heavier than the snow. It was a thick, suffocating blanket that pressed against my lungs, smelling of scorched iron and the salt-bitter tang of the deep ocean. I sat on the frozen edge of the docks, my hand resting on Cassian’s chest. His heartbeat was slow, a faint drum echoing in a hollow cave. For the first time since I had met him, the shadows that usually danced around his shoulders were gone. He looked smaller, more human, and terrifyingly fragile. I watched the steam rise from his skin where the freezing air met his fading warmth.“The Tree is crying, Winnie,” Thorne whispered.I looked up. The Alpha was standing a few feet away, his fur matted with ice and the blood of his kin. He was not looking at the wreckage of the ships in the harbor. He was looking up at the mountain. The Obsidian Tree, the golden heart of our world, was pulsing with a jagged, irregular light. It was not the steady, warm
Last Updated : 2026-03-03 Read more