Chapter 166

*Elora*

The scroll was still clutched in Kaelen’s hand when we reached the others.

I didn’t need to say anything—Valerius saw our faces and knew.

He stood slowly, eyes sharpening behind a half-unrolled map of the eastern ridgelines. “What happened?”

Kaelen handed him the scroll. No words. Just movement. Valerius unsealed it with a careful hand and unfolded the parchment.

The moment he saw the sigi