Sera's Pov
It had been a few quiet weeks since we buried Kael.
Quiet—not in the literal sense, but in the way grief simmers beneath everything like a slow fire. People talked again, laughed sometimes, even rebuilt. But no one had forgotten. You could feel it in the silence after the punchline of a joke, in the way hands lingered during hugs, in the way every returning footstep made someone's breath hitch with hope or dread.
Lucian had begun calling civilians back to the fortress last week. The families of warriors who'd been sent to the safe house when the war was upon us now returned to scorched homes, battered streets, and loved ones they weren't all lucky enough to find alive. There were reunions. There were sobs. There were candles lit by the hundreds.
Still… life moved.
