Marina presented herself at the Shadow Keep's east wall three days later.

Not through a sensor gap this time.

Through the front gate.

She walked out of the tree line at midday, alone, with her shadow magic visible and her hands away from her weapons and the specific posture of someone who had made a decision and was not second-guessing it.

The two gate guards saw her and went still.

She stopped ten feet out and waited.

They sent a runner inside. She stood in the open and let the sun hit her and felt the Keep's sensor network reading her presence and registered nothing that looked like alarm. The...