Echoes of Ruin
I yanked my sleeve down over the rune and followed the witch down the hall.
The council chamber was colder than I remembered. A wide octagonal room with frosted stained glass stretching from floor to ceiling, each panel representing one of the four Houses and their shared crest at the center. The magic woven into the floor hummed with old, binding spells. Neutral ground, supposedly. I wasn’t so sure anymore.
Ronan was already there, standing near the center with Caelum, Lucien, and Elias. Nora stood closest to the crest, chin lifted, eyes hard. Her posture screamed control, but I caught the tension in her fingers.