The temple remained cold.
Yet after the priest's earlier words, something had shifted not in the air, but in their gazes. As though Liv had brushed against a question they had deliberately avoided for far too long.
"Since your arrival," the old priest said again, more softly, "many people have drawn the wrong conclusion."
Liv lifted her head.
"You mean… this isn't because of my child?"
The priest shook his head.
"No."
The answer was short. Firm.
"When you first arrived in the North," he continued, "you were not yet with child. And yet the land had already begun to change."
Annie and Mira fell silent.
Liv swallowed. "Then… what is it?"
The old priest looked toward the empty altar, as though the words that followed were too heavy to aim directly at another human being.
"Something came with you," he said. "But not in your womb."
Liv frowned. "Something?"
"A trace," he replied. "Or… a bond."
A shiver ran through her.
