SERAPHINA’S POV
I woke before dawn the next morning.
Not because I was rested—I wasn’t—but because my body no longer knew how to remain fully still.
The only comfort was Kieran's arms around me when I opened my eyes.
Even in sleep, his hold on me remained firm, and when he blinked awake seconds after me, I recognized the same exhaustion in his eyes that I felt in my own bones.
By the time we stepped out of our room, Nightfang was already in motion.
The packhouse corridors carried a low hum of anticipation, footsteps overlapping as people moved purposefully from one task to the next, voices kept deliberately subdued.
Everyone understood that today was not a celebration—not yet, at least.
It was reckoning.
The main hall had been prepared in advance, the long chamber lit with softened daylight filtered through high glass panels.
