Caelan POV:
Night settles differently after truth has been spoken aloud.
It doesn’t rush in. It doesn’t smother. It arrives with intention — measured and observant — as if the land itself has paused to listen more closely now that something ancient has been named.
The pack feels it too. As I step out onto the stone terrace overlooking the lower paths, I sense the shift through the bond I share with this territory. The usual evening rhythm hasn’t vanished, but it has softened. Voices carry lower, movement slows, deliberate rather than wary. Lanterns glow between the buildings, steady pools of gold against the dark, and beyond them the forest stands tall and patient, its silence no longer empty.
Prime blood changes the weight of quiet.
The thought is not mine alone. It hums faintly thro
