Hollow Mountain had quieted since the Omega Festival and Logan’s forced-truth fiasco.

Repairs were steady. Lanterns swung from newly fixed beams. Children’s laughter, always a good sign, echoed through the halls.

But under it all, there was a restlessness Celeste felt in her bones.

The warriors called it “settling dust.”

She called it instinct.

The day began with her meeting Hunter in the council chamber. He was sprawled in the big carved chair that once belonged to generations of ...