The journey back to the palace felt shorter than it should have.
Not because the distance had changed, but because the air around them had. The moment the throne memory stirred inside the shrine, the world outside seemed to lean in closer, as though every hidden thing in the capital had begun listening for the next sound Selene made. The snowstorm still churned over the ruined district when they emerged from the underground chamber, but the night no longer felt empty. It felt watched.
Imperial soldiers moved first, securing the shrine entrance and forming a perimeter around the broken stone steps. Southern wolves remained tense but controlled beneath Darius's command, while Kael's guards reorganized quickly into a traveling formation tight enough to make retreat impossible and efficient enough to make pursuit unlikely. No one argued. No one relaxed. Every person there understood that whatever had awakened beneath the shrine had changed the shape of the coming hours.
