Chapter 36 — The Weight of Balance
The first crack did not come from an enemy.
It came from within.
Elowen realized this on the seventh day after the Conclave's dissolution, standing in the eastern gardens of Blackspire where frost still clung stubbornly to the stone despite the warming season. The roses had begun to bloom again red and white climbing trellises that had once been shattered by siege fire. Life returned quickly here, almost unnervingly so.
Too quickly.
She pressed her palm against the low wall overlooking the valley, breathing slowly. The land felt restless beneath her fingers, not wounded anymore, but unsettled. As though the world itself was adjusting to a new rhythm and hadn't yet decided whether it liked the tune.
Behind her, footsteps approached.
"You're doing it again," Kael said quietly.
She didn't turn. "Feeling things I shouldn't?"
"Carrying things you don't have to," he replied.
