C180 THE NIGHT THAT CHOOSE HER

The third horn did not finish sounding.

It broke.

Halfway through the conversation, the note had been twisted into something raw and desperate, as though the breath behind it had failed.

Then came the silence.

Not peace.

Absence.

Elara felt it first—the way the flame inside her lurched, not outward, but inward, as if bracing. Her grip on Aria tightened before she was conscious of moving