Chapter 24 — The Whisper Beneath the Water
The sea did not stay quiet for long.
Hours later, long after the garden dome had dimmed into soft twilight, Aerin stood alone at the edge of the palace balcony. The vast ocean stretched endlessly before her, dark currents gliding beneath ribbons of silver moonlight.
Something felt… different.
Not wrong.
Just deeper.
The bond within her chest pulsed gently, steady as a heartbeat. Caelum and Noctyrr were somewhere within the palace—she could feel them through that invisible thread between them. Their presence was distant but comforting, like two steady stars on the horizon.
Yet another sensation had begun to weave itself quietly into that familiar rhythm.
Aerin rested her hands on the cool stone railing and closed her eyes.
The sea answered.
It wasn't sound exactly.
More like a whisper carried through water and bone.
Ancient.
Patient.
Waiting.
