PORTSTEAD — GLASS HARBOR SQUARE — CONTINUOUS
The guards advanced in perfect formation.
Too perfect.
That was how I knew they weren't acting like themselves.
Real guards hesitated. Looked at crowds. Adjusted footing. Wondered if they were about to die for a wage that definitely wasn't high enough.
These men moved like punctuation.
Placed.
Printed.
The captain held up the warrant and his voice echoed strangely, as if a second line of text sat behind every word.
"By emergency authority vested under civic preservation clause forty-two, Seraphina Nightingale is to be detained for public stabilization."
"That law doesn't exist," Mira snapped.
The captain didn't even blink. "It exists now."
Sera stood completely still.
I could feel the war inside her without needing magic for it.
If she fought, she proved the story.
If she submitted, she entered it.
Kassandra's hand drifted to her knives.
Shadow had already vanished again, somewhere behind the line of guards.
