The snowstorm came without warning.
By morning, Fort Vireloch was buried waist-deep in white, its outer walls barely visible through the ice-laced fog. The garrison grumbled and worked in silence. There were no supply wagons, no word from the capital. Only silence.
Zareena walked the halls as she always did—quiet, steady, watching.
In the great hall, she studied the old map carved into the stone table. Faded names marked long-forgotten borders. The ink had blurred, but she traced the roads with her fingers anyway. She was beginning to understand something:
This place had been forgotten long before she was sent here.
And yet, she was learning its rhythms—its people.
The fortress wasn't full of monsters. It was full of men and women no one believed in.
Like Silven, the quartermaster who could barely lift a crate but memorized every item down to the last nail.
Like Erenya, the messenger girl with a burn-scarred face who knew more about enemy movement than the scouts.
Like Doren, the bitter old mage with a limp who still stared at her like she was a child pretending to lead.
They were strange. Suspicious. Some whispered that Zareena had no power, no right to walk the halls like she belonged.
But she kept showing up.
She listened. She remembered names. She didn't ask for respect—but slowly, she began to earn it.
That night, as the storm howled outside, a raven arrived at the gate—black, soaked, and trembling. Its leg bore a letter sealed in deep crimson wax.
No one recognized the seal.
Zareena opened it in silence.
A shadow passes through the south. Eyes are turning toward Vireloch. Do not trust the quiet.
—R
She read it twice, she trying to remember the hand writing of the letter." Who are trying to warn me?" then folded the letter and tucked it inside her coat.
No one saw her expression change. But her steps grew sharper after that. Her silences, heavier.
No one asked who "R" was.
But the spy in the tower watched her that night with new interest.
Far away, in the court of silver and stone, the name Serinova was spoken at a table of war.