The moonlight filtered through the jagged windows of the ancient sanctum, throwing fractured beams across Aria’s face. Her fingers trembled as she held the shard of crystal Solene had left behind—a memory-stone, humming with truths long buried. Her breath hitched, and the stone responded, pulsing with warmth that sank straight into her chest.

Caleb stood behind her, silent, watching her shoulders rise and fall like the tides before a storm.

“She was one of us,” Aria whispered. “The ...