THE BANISHED LUNA
—echoed like a prophecy.
The stillness shattered.
A howl ripped through the night—high, ragged, wrong. Not the deep, resonant cry of a pack wolf but something wild, untethered. The courtyard froze, then erupted into chaos.
“Rogues!” someone shouted from the walls.
The gate shuddered a beat later, heavy timbers groaning under the force of claws and bodies slamming against it. Before Aria could breathe, it burst inward, snow and splinters exploding into the yard. Dark shapes flooded through the breach, half-shifted monsters with glowing eyes and jagged teeth. The stench of blood and rot rolled with them.