Peace is never as quiet as it seems.
Sometimes…
It is only silence waiting to break.
The days after the war feel almost unreal.
The forest breathes again. Rivers run clear. The air, once thick with ash and blood, carries the soft scent of life returning.
Wolves move through the territory without fear—for the first time in years.
But Aria does not feel peace.
She stands alone at the highest cliff, the same place where she once watched war consume everything.
Now, she watches something else.
Stillness.
Her silver wolf does not rest.
It prowls beneath her skin, restless, alert—like it senses something her mind cannot yet grasp.
“You’ve been up here every night.”
Kael’s voice breaks through the silence behind her.
She doesn’t turn.
“I’m listening,” she says quietly.
Kael steps
