Echoes of Ruin
Just a hum beneath the stones, like the earth clearing its throat.
Nora straightened fast, her fingers curling mid-sigil. “Did you feel that?”
Lucien was already moving toward the northern terrace, eyes narrowed. “The wards.”
A beat later, the sky split with the sharp scream of wings. A raven dove through the clouds, fast and heavy, its feathers tipped in silver-black ash. I knew that shape before it even landed.
Bloodpine crest scorched into the wings.
My mother’s seal.
It dropped the letter at my feet like a curse and vanished, leaving only the echo of its call and the faint burn of old magic in its wake. The parchment smoked faintly around the edges, like it knew it wasn’t welcome here.