The Hollowing came to the fortress's outer perimeter three nights later, exactly as Liora had grimly predicted it might, drawn — she theorized — by the sheer concentration of powerful bonds gathered within Jasmine's walls. The fortress had spent those three nights in a state of quiet, tense readiness, every guard doubled, every ward checked and rechecked until even Liora's most seasoned soldiers had begun to feel the strain of waiting for a threat none of them could properly picture.

Jasmine felt it before the watch horns sounded, a cold, hungry pressure pressing against her awareness like a held breath refusing release, the twins stirring restlessly in their shared room...