The sea did not welcome it.
It recoiled.
From the highest currents to the deepest trenches, the ocean shuddered as something vast tore through its surface boundary and began its descent.
Aerin felt it before she saw it.
Felt it in the sudden wrongness that rippled through every current she touched.
Felt it in the way the sea itself resisted—pushing, pulling, rejecting.
Felt it in the child within her.
For the first time—
The pulse stuttered.
Aerin gasped.
Her hand flew to her abdomen.
"No…"
Caelum was at her side instantly.
"What is it?"
Aerin's breath came sharp.
"It feels it."
Noctyrr's expression darkened.
"…Feels what?"
Aerin lifted her gaze slowly.
Fear flickered there now.
Real fear.
"Something it shouldn't."
The palace trembled again.
But this time—
Not from below.
From above.
The water overhead darkened unnaturally, light from the upper sea swallowed by something massive passing through it.
