The words Root Facility did not remain in the hall as only the name of a place. They spread into the stones, passed through the erased faces on the walls, and touched a different wound inside each of them.
For Kael, that name was a dark possibility opening toward the body of the brother who had not even had a grave for years. For Rowan, it meant Seren's body, the body that had never returned, might still be held somewhere. For Elara, it was worse. Because the Moon Spirit had recognized that name.
And it was afraid.
Elara felt it. The Moon Spirit had not spoken, but the coldness inside her had retreated for an instant, then hidden itself deeper. This was not one of the silences she was used to. Sometimes the Moon Spirit fell silent and watched. Sometimes it fell silent and calculated. But now the silence inside her was the silence of someone holding their breath behind a locked room.
