Kael’s POV
The raven found us at dawn.
The sky was the color of steel, the snow crusted in thin layers of ice that cracked underfoot. I had taken first watch, though sleep hadn’t come for any of us. The storm had quieted in the night, but the stillness that followed was worse — the kind that listened.
The bird landed on a low branch above the camp, shaking loose a flurry of frost. It was darker than the others, its feathers glossed like oil, a small ribbon of silver bound to its leg.
Jarek stirred beside the dying fire. “From the fortress?”
“From her,” I said.
I untied the message carefully, half expecting it to crumble in the cold. The seal was faint — a crescent pressed into soft wax. Not the mark of the Alpha, not even the Luna’s crest. It was older, simpler. Ours.
Her handwritin
