POV: Lyra

The fortress was quiet.

I stood on the highest tower with the cold wind cutting across my face and the first light of dawn spreading across the mountains like a promise. Below me the plateau stretched out like a white sea and the bodies of the fallen had been gathered and covered and prepared for burial.

We had won.

But the cost was written in the blood that stained the snow.

Jaden climbed the stairs behind me. He stopped at the top and stood beside me without speaking. His arm was still bandaged and his face was still pale but he was alive.

"The scouts have returned," he...