The border was quiet again.
Too quiet.
Smoke drifted lazily through the trees, clinging to broken branches and trampled earth. Bodies had already been removed—some carried away, others left behind under cloaks and shields. The forest looked unchanged, but everyone who survived knew better.
Nyvoria returned first.
Lunara rode back with fewer soldiers than she had left with. No one spoke. Armor scraped softly. Faces were hard, eyes distant.
At the gates, the commanders were waiting.
"Who gave the order to cross?" one demanded.
Lunara dismounted. "No order was given."
"That is not an answer."
She held her ground. "Lord Vaelis crossed on his own. I moved to prevent disaster."
A bitter laugh came from one of the officers. "And yet disaster followed him home."
Vaelis was brought in shortly after bloodied, unbowed, furious.
"I did what the king was too afraid to do," he said loudly. "I showed Aethros we are not weak."
"You showed them we are divided," Lunara replied.
The room fell silent.
King Eldrion entered last.
His gaze moved from Lunara, to Vaelis, to the soldiers standing behind them. He did not raise his voice.
"You disobeyed the law," he said to his brother.
Vaelis met his eyes. "And you hide behind it."
The king closed his eyes briefly.
"From this moment," he said, "no Nyvorian force crosses the border without my command. Those who do will be treated as enemies of the state."
Guards stepped forward.
Vaelis did not resist as he was taken away, but his eyes never left Lunara.
"This isn't over," he said quietly. "You'll see."
Lunara felt the weight settle fully now.
She had stopped a massacre, but she had not stopped the fracture.
Across the border, Aethros did not call it chaos.
They called it opportunity.
Kael stood before a council of generals and princes. Rhaegor was there, smiling openly for once.
"They crossed first," Rhaegor said. "Nyvoria broke its own rules."
"And paid for it," another added.
Kael spoke carefully. "They were divided. One commander acted alone."
Rhaegor turned to him. "And you helped them retreat."
The room stilled.
"I prevented escalation," Kael replied. "Your forces arrived late. If the fight had continued"
"We would have crushed them," Rhaegor interrupted. "And ended this war faster."
King Varyon's voice cut through the room. "Enough."
He studied Kael for a long moment. "You were seen fighting beside the enemy."
Kael met his father's gaze. "I was seen stopping disorder."
The king's expression did not soften.
"Disorder is useful," Varyon said. "So is fear."
He turned away. "Rhaegor will take over border command."
The decision landed hard.
Kael understood the message clearly.
You are being sidelined.
That night, Aethros celebrated the breach of Nyvoria's restraint.
Nyvoria mourned its dead and imprisoned its own.
And between them, the border waited—no longer a line of defense, but a wound that refused to close.