The snow in the Lower Wards was no longer falling in drifts; it was sweeping across the narrow alleys in sharp, horizontal sheets that smelled of sulphur, frozen iron, and static electricity.Kaela moved through the deep shadow of an abandoned coal bunker, her long wool coat pulled tight against her ribs. Beneath the fabric, the three salvaged vellum sheets of the Draven text felt cold and stiff, matching the icy current racing through her veins. Her permanent silver-blue luminescence was burning at a controlled, quiet simmer on her wrists, casting a pale glow over the frozen slush.Beside her, the Lycan King Lucien Varkas was a silent wall of raw heat. He had bound his bleeding shoulder in a strip of dark canvas. His amber eyes had completely dilated to pitch-black as his nostrils flared, tracking the heavy, sour scent profile of the parasite lineage through the storm."The third node is at the central slag pit junction," Lucien whispered, his rough baritone barely cutting through th
Read more