The wards did not fail.
They bent.
That distinction—subtle, terrifying, and absolute—told Sera everything she needed to know. It had likely informed Seraphine as well. The Witch Queen would now realize that Graves Landing was far stronger than she had anticipated. She would know that the ancient protections woven into the foundation of this place had not rotted with time, but had only grown more stubborn.
More importantly, Seraphine now knew that Thomas had not been abandoned.
She had tested the lines for weakness, probing the spiritual and magical connections of the pack, likely expecting Thomas to be a severed limb—cut off, discarded, left to rot outside the protection of the family. Instead, she found him anchored. She found resistance. She found that there were people—wolves and wi
