The portal shimmered above the ancient stone circle, distorting the air like heat rising from summer asphalt. Talia stepped through, feeling Graves Landing settle into her bones—earth that remembered her blood, wind that carried her father's scent in the pine needles.
Neutral ground. Safe ground.
Sera was already waiting at the clearing's edge where the forest opened to the valley. Black River territory lay beyond those ridges, but here they were just two women bound by children who loved each other.
"Talia." Sera turned, and even after all these years, Talia felt the instinctive assessment of warriors recognizing a warrior. Sera carried herself like a blade—elegant, controlled, lethal. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a severe braid, her eyes holding the weariness of ruling beside a
