The hall outside Eldrin's study murmured with movement.
Soft steps. Polished boots on marble. The muffled shift of leather and armor, barely audible if you weren't trained to listen. But Eldrin heard it all.
He stayed where he was, framed by the wide window. Shoulders square, eyes still fixed on the sky. No commands shouted. No horns blown. This wasn't a siege. Not yet.
It was something worse.
A kind of waiting that didn't make sense.
Solrendel had seen its share of magic. Of threats. The great southern incursion two decades ago. The elemental wars before that. But those things had come from the ground. They'd come roaring, reckless, armies behind them.
Not this.
Not two silent figures hovering above the estate like they were watching a pond and waiting for a ripple.
A knock tapped gently behind him.
"Enter."
Seraphine stepped in, quiet and fast, silver half-cape moving with her.
