Chapter 172
The chamber remained frozen after the voice disappeared.
Ariana could still hear the words inside her head even though the silence had returned. The cold spreading through the council hall no longer felt like ordinary winter air or dragon pressure. It felt heavier than that, wrong in a way that made her instincts tighten painfully beneath her skin.
Kael noticed immediately.
His hand tightened around her arm while his eyes searched her face with growing tension. "What did you hear?"
Before Ariana could answer, the shadows near the entrance shifted again.
The darkness gathered slowly across the broken stone floor, rising upward like smoke pulled together by invisible hands. Wolves throughout the chamber immediately stepped backward while warriors raised their weapons despite the fear visible in their expressions.
Even the council elders looked shaken now.
Nobody spoke.
Nobody moved.
