"He did not come with armies, but with the sea itself. And when he stepped upon our shores, it was not conquest he brought, but ruin cloaked in majesty."
I stepped forward, letting the salt air roll over my skin. "Speak plainly, Nerisca. What have you done?"
She smiled. "Lord Ardanis is dead. The Fae Realm has fallen. The tides took it, your tides. The Deep One reigns now, and Vaelaryn wears the crown you once thought belonged to the light." Behind me, the weight of her words rippled. I felt Ysara stiffen. Lysander stepped closer, silent and sharp. Caelan's breath caught for half a second.
"You lie," I said quietly.
But I knew she did not. I had felt the rupture hours before. The scream of the fae winds twisting into silence. "I bring no lies," she said. "Only truth and power. We offered peace. You refused. Now you will see what allegiance to shadows truly means."
