The valley does not return to normal after the attack.
It sharpens.
The wards are rebuilt stronger than before, but they hum differently now—less like quiet protection, more like restrained lightning. Wolves move in pairs instead of alone. The younger couriers are reassigned to inner routes. The coven circles reinforce the lake perimeter nightly.
Aurora does not retreat from visibility.
If anything, she becomes more present.
But something inside her has shifted.
The suspension that once felt like strategy now feels obsolete.
The rogue cell made that clear.
Shared governance did not prevent escalation.
It revealed fracture.
And fracture does not wait politely.
Tomas remains confined under guarded hospitality—neither prisoner nor guest.
He sits in Maera's outer chamber when Aurora enters alone.
He rises immediately.
"You survived," he says.
"I did."
His eyes flicker briefly toward the door behind her.
"You came alone."
"Yes."
Silence stretches.
