Chapter 76
- The training field stretched beneath a sky the color of steel. Wind swept across the cliffs, carrying the tang of the sea and the scent of ash from fires that had never quite gone out after the war. Ariana stood in the center of the stone ring, her palms open, eyes closed, listening to the silence between her heartbeats.
- Inside that silence, the second pulse waited, slow, ancient, and patient. When she reached for it, it reached back.
- The ground shivered.