The first tremors came before dawn.

Not earthquakes. Not storms. Not the familiar hum of old magic that usually whispered through the city like a lullaby. This was sharper. Faster. A pulse that moved through stone and mortar, through flesh and blood, and reached the edge of perception before it announced itself fully.

Selene felt it first—not as a surge of power, not as resonance—but as a ripple of expectation. A waiting. The world seemed to inhale, as if unsure whether to follow ...