Seraphina smelled them two hours before she even saw them.
Brimstone, scorched stone, and that distinct metallic tang unique to her father's wings. She stood atop the East Gate watchtower, gripping the stone parapet with both hands, her oversized blue coat snapping in the wind. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up one by one before her eyes even caught the first dark speck in the southern sky.
"They're coming," she announced.
"You've said that exactly four times now," Roland noted beside her. He was wearing a dark gray formal mantle chosen specifically by Aurelia, and for some inexplicable reason, his ears had been glowing red since morning. "Relax. You're going to crush the stone."
Seraphina looked down at her fingers, spotting the deep gouges her grip had left in the stone: five shallow craters carved straight into the solid granite. She hastily pulled her hands away, hiding them inside her coat sleeves.
