Sera's Pov
The fortress stood in wounded silence.
The fires had long died, leaving only ash and char. The battlefield had been scrubbed clean of blood, but its scent still clung to the stones like a stain that refused to be erased. The bodies—friend and foe—had been buried with hurried reverence. The dead had finally been given rest.
But the living? We were still trying to remember how to breathe.
I walked slowly along the courtyard, boots crunching over fallen debris. The clean-up was almost done, but every stone out of place, every scorched wall, reminded me of what we had lost.
And what we hadn't buried yet.
Kael.
The thought of his name alone felt like swallowing glass. We hadn't held his burial yet. Couldn't. Not until we were ready. Or maybe we were just stalling because putting him in the ground would make it real.
