POV: Kael

The trial of a brother is a funeral without a body. We gathered in the high circle where the stone was still scarred from the violet light of Kenny’s defense.

The air was crisp, the scent of pine and damp earth settling over the pack like a heavy shroud.

Jake stood in the center, not in chains; I wouldn't insult our history with iron but bound by the weight of a thousand shared memories he had tried to incinerate.

His shoulder was bandaged, his face hollowed out by a night ...