POV: ELARA
The smell hit me first.
Even before we crested the hill overlooking Thornhaven, even before I could see the ruins of what had been a thriving border village, the smell of death and ash filled my nose and made my stomach turn.
Kael's hand found mine, squeezing tightly. Through the Merge, I felt his barely contained rage warring with grief.
Then we saw it.
Thornhaven was gone.
Not just destroyed—erased. Every building burned to foundations. Bodies scattered across the central square like discarded toys. The carefully tended gardens where children had played were trampled and bloodsoaked.
I'd seen battlefields. Had witnessed the aftermath of dragon attacks during the war. But this was different.
This was deliberate. Systematic. Cruel.
"Gods," Lyra whispered beside me, her face pale. "They hunted every one of them."
