The Citadel did not sleep the night before the Rite.
It held its breath.
Even the wind seemed quieter, as if afraid to disturb the fragile stillness stretched across stone and sky. Torches burned lower along the battlements. Patrol routes overlapped in careful loops. No one said it aloud, but everyone understood the truth humming beneath the silence.
Tomorrow would change everything.
Aria stood alone in the upper observatory.
It was the highest open point in the Citadel, a circular chamber with no doors and only carved arches instead of walls. From here, she could see everything. The city lights below, dim and scattered like fallen stars. The black ribbon of forest stretching beyond the outer walls. The distant mountains, faint and unmoving beneath a sky heavy with cloud.
The storm had not returned.
But it lingered somewhere beyond the horizon, waiting.
She rested her hands on the cool stone ledge, breathing slowly. In. Out. Steady.
Her wolf was awake.
Not restless.
Alert.
