The first sign was not sound.It was absence.The usual dawn patrol returned late, and when they did, they did not speak immediately. Their silence carried more weight than alarm ever could. Dust clung to their boots. One of them bore a shallow cut across his shoulder—not deep enough to maim, but deliberate enough to provoke.Kael met them at the main gate before the council could be summoned. Ayla stood only a step behind him, her gaze sharp, already scanning their posture, their breathing, their restraint.“They crossed,” the patrol leader said evenly, though his jaw was tight. “Three of them. Nightfang