Chapter 73

• 3 hours earlier
• Author's POV
• The fierce conviction in his voice lit a spark in his sons. Their jaws tightened, shoulders squaring as though his words had sewn iron into their spines. They exchanged glances—silent, weighty looks that carried both understanding and unspoken fears. At last, one by one, the brothers nodded, their earlier frustration ebbing into something steadier. In that moment, it was not only loyalty to their father that bound them but the vow he had voiced: never to abandon the search for the Phoenix wolf, never to surrender hope of saving their mother.