The mist was turning slowly around the stone. Elara was not entirely unfamiliar with the last vessel's Blackthorn past. The old wolf had already said that Kael's bloodline had crossed paths with this cycle before. She also knew by now how deeply Seren had been rooted in Rowan's past. But knowing these things was not the same as seeing the same truth on the archive's black stone, like an inscription on a grave.
The moment Elara saw the face before them, she understood that Rowan's old love was no longer only a past that had been told to her. But knowing was one thing. Seeing that woman's face, her name, and her fate carved into a stone that looked like a grave was something else entirely.
