Chapter 23 The Fire Beneath Stone

The first thaw came quietly.

It seeped through the stones of Thornwick Hall before anyone saw it in the sky. A soft melt in the corners of windowpanes. A trickle beneath the vault door. No storm. No ceremony. Just the slow undoing of winter's grip one drop at a time.

Calla watched it from the tower, her hands curled around a mug of coffee gone co