Blackwood did not wake that morning. It exhaled. The entire mountain released a breath so deep that Eleanor felt it beneath her feet before she heard it. Roots shifted beneath stone. Silver light rolled slowly through the walls like moonlight moving beneath water. Somewhere deep below, thousands of ancient runes pulsed together—not in warning, not in alarm—but in rhythm. A heartbeat. The mountain had found one. It simply wasn't its own. Eleanor stood at the balcony overlooking the eastern cliffs with both hands resting against the carved stone railing. Morning fog clung to the forests below, hiding the valleys in silver mist. For the first time since arriving at Blackwood... The birds had returned. Only a few. A pair of ravens perched on a dead pine near the cliffs while smaller woodland birds cautiously tested the branches farther down the mountainside. Life. Tiny. Fragile. Returning. The sight brought tears to her eyes before she realized she was crying. Behind he
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