Chapter 179

It had been one month since dust and lies carried Alpha Theron away from our gates.

One month since the square trembled with his poison.

One month since Solene and Lucian chose their own road.

And in that month, Vael-Mont had begun to breathe again.

I thought often of that first night — the silence so thick it felt like cloth stuffed into the throat of the territory.

No children laughing.

No women