Caelan POV
We walk a little farther in silence after speaking of Velarys and the prime wolves, the quiet of the forest settling around us. The air beneath the canopy carries the scent of pine and damp soil, and the steady rhythm of our steps eases naturally into something unhurried as the path bends gradually toward the valley where my packhouse stands beyond the trees.
For a time neither of us speaks. Not because there is nothing left to say. Because the truth Velarys has begun revealing, the eradication of the prime wolves, the Council’s fear of power it cannot control, rests between us with the kind of gravity that deserves space rather than immediate examination.
But a memory begins to surface in my mind.
It does not arrive abruptly. Instead it emerges slowly, certain details sharp
