Chapter 262

It started with the wind.

The night was still, the torches steady, and then the air shifted—sharp, metallic, wrong.

Wolves hear storms before they break, and every guard on the wall turned toward the forest at once.

A howl came first.

Then another.

Then a dozen, weaving together like laughter that had forgotten how to be human.

“Rogues,” Malcor hissed.

Before the alarm could finish sounding, the t