The response came not as an envoy, but as a formal declaration — a scroll delivered by a hawk none of Liora's aviary staff recognized, bearing a seal none of them had ever catalogued, found simply waiting on the war table one morning with no indication of how it had bypassed every ward the fortress maintained. Even the guards stationed closest to the war table swore they had seen nothing enter or leave.

"That alone should concern you," Liora said grimly, studying the seal with a scholar's focused unease. "My wards have held against everything from Council envoys to a Hollowing's hunger. Whoever delivered this walked through them as though...