The smoke had long cleared, but the echoes of the battle still haunted the woods around the old lodge. Burned brush crackled underfoot. The place that once bore the false glamour of a romantic retreat was now scarred ground, proof of the war they had just survived and of what they had finally, finally ended.

Fallon was gone, but the victory felt hollow. Not empty, but weighty. As if the universe had paused to honor what had been lost.

Celeste stood over the broken ground where Fallon had last ...