They traveled by night, following narrow paths known only to smugglers and ghosts. Elayne moved with practiced ease, avoiding loose stone and broken ground, while Aurelian adjusted to the rhythm of mortal terrain.
The farther inland they went, the heavier the air became. Magic thinned here, not absent, but buried—ignored by a world that preferred steel and certainty.
Villages passed at a distance, their lights dim and wary. Men spoke of war openly now, of kings and queens and dragons returning from myth. Fear traveled faster than armies.
At a ridge overlooking a wide road, Elayne slowed. Below them, torchlight flickered—soldiers marching beneath a banner Aurelian did not recognize.
"Crown patrol," Elayne muttered. "Things are tightening. Someone important is moving pieces."
Aurelian felt it then—a ripple through the Veil Anchor, sharp and warning. Not danger yet, but attention.
Something ancient stirred beneath Westeros.
They skirted the road and pressed on until dawn painted the sky a pale gray. When they finally stopped to rest, Aurelian stood apart, gazing eastward.
"Westeros feels… wounded," he said quietly.
Elayne glanced at him. "That's one way to put it."
Before she could say more, the ground trembled faintly. Birds scattered from the trees. The Veil Anchor burned cold against Aurelian's chest.
He turned sharply.
Far away, beyond hills and smoke, something massive roared—distant, yet unmistakable.
Aurelian closed his eyes, recognition settling like ice.
"Dragons," he said.
Elayne swallowed. "That's not a word people like hearing these days."
"Nor a power meant to wake unchallenged," Aurelian replied.
In Nightbloom, Queen Maleficent stood before the Veilpool, watching fire coil across dark water. The future fractured, branching toward blood and shadow.
"The board is set," she murmured. "And my son has stepped into the game."
As the sun rose over Westeros, casting light on war-torn land, the Dark Fae prince continued forward—unseen by thrones, unnoticed by crowns.
For now.
But fate had begun to turn, and it would not turn back.