Thane’s mouth curves slightly—not quite a smile, but close. “Then let’s make it loud.”
Bree moves toward the door, and we all fall in behind her. Not following. Supporting.
The air outside is cool, the sky still dark but beginning to lighten at the edges. Dawn’s not far off.
The door creaks open, and mist spills in like a living thing.
Bree steps through the archway first, into the courtyard beyond.
And stops.
The mist moves like breath through the open space, glinting silver in the first light.
I come up beside her, and my breath catches.
The courtyard is full.
Not just a few Feeders scattered around doing late-night repairs or standing watch.
Hundreds.
They line the edges of the space, standing in clusters, sitting on low walls, leaning against trees. Some are talking quietly. Others are silent, watching. Waiting.
Every single one of them stayed.
Bree’s hand lifts slightly, like she’s reaching for something that isn’t there. Her voice comes out barely above a whisper.
“I thought… I thought maybe a dozen would stay.”
“They all did,” Thane says quietly from behind her. “Every last one.”
She takes a step forward, and the nearest Feeders turn toward her. Then the next group. Then the next.
A ripple of movement spreads through the crowd as they all shift their attention to her—hundreds of eyes, hundreds of faces, all focused on the woman standing at the center of it all.
The Source.
Bree’s shoulders straighten. Her chin lifts.
The Ether rises around her like wings.
And for the first time since I met her, I see it clearly—not just the power, not just the magic.
The queen.
Chapter 48
Bree
I can’t breathe.
My pulse stutters, too much air in my lungs and not enough space to hold it.
Not from fear. From the weight of what I’m seeing.
Hundreds of them.
Every single Feeder who came to the Sanctuary—still here. Standing in the courtyard as dawn breaks over the hills, silver mist drifting between them, alive as breath, silver veins of my Ether glowing at their feet.
