Chapter 210

She had followed rumor this time—not of conflict, not of fracture, but of consolidation.

A settlement perched between mountains had begun appointing a single voice to “streamline” decisions. Temporary, they called it. Efficient.

Kaia did not react immediately.

Efficiency was not always a threat.

Sometimes it was mercy.

But she had learned to listen for tone, not terminology.

The air in the highlands was thinner than the coast, sharper than the valley. Snow lined the ...