Chapter 44 — After the Storm, the Reckoning
The city did not sleep.
Blackspire had known nights of revelry and nights of mourning, but this this was something stranger. Fires burned low in braziers along the streets, not for warmth but for reassurance. People gathered in quiet clusters, voices hushed, eyes lifted often to the sky as if expecting it to tear open again.
It did not.
Stars emerged instead hesitant at first, then bold glittering against a sky scrubbed raw by rain and magic and refusal.
Elowen stood at the balcony doors of the citadel, watching the city breathe.
Behind her, Kael lay stretched across the narrow bed, boots discarded, cloak folded with unusual care. His breathing was steady but deep, the kind that came only after exhaustion had hollowed someone out completely.
She hadn't wanted to leave his side.
