The First Cry

Bastian's POV... ...

The world had narrowed to a single room.

No war cries.

No chanting.

No fire or blood or magic.

Just stone walls, healer's lamps, and Kaia lying still.

The healers have moved her while Lorcan and my shadows cleaned up after the war, planning the burials for the warriors who died.

She looked unreal on the table—too pale, too quiet. Her white hair was braided away