SERAPHINA’S POV
It was amazing how beautiful laughter sounded when it wasn't edged with exhaustion.
For so long, every smile had been measured against loss, every moment of peace shadowed by the certainty that battle waited just beyond the horizon.
Even after Catherine's fall, even after we returned home, it took time for my body to believe the danger had truly passed.
Two weeks.
Two weeks of sleeping through the night.
Two weeks of laughter rippling through the corridors instead of hushed murmurs.
Two weeks of healers seeing fewer patients each morning.
Two weeks of watching broken people slowly learn to live again.
Tonight felt like the first real breath Nightfang had taken in months.
The pack grounds had transformed into something out of a dream.
Strings of golden and silver lanterns hung between towering pines, their warm light weaving through the branches like fallen stars.
