The alliance dispersed slowly over the weeks following the shrine's closure, bloodlines that had fought side by side for the first time in living memory returning to their own territories with a newfound respect that lingered long after the battle itself had ended. Wagons loaded with wounded and weary fighters rolled out through the fortress gates each morning, farewells exchanged between packs and covens that would once have regarded each other with nothing but suspicion.

Jasmine watched the last of the departing envoys ride out from the fortress gates with a mixture of relief and quiet melancholy, aware that the extraordinary unity they'd built under threat would inevitably soften back...