The Broken Citadel

Mael drew a breath at the edge of the old library, holding rain on the rooftops. "We leave at dawn," Liora said, and Liora only hesitated. It was the kind of silence that comes before a promise is broken. The wind carried an old map across the glass city as the light began to fail. The wind carried an old map across the northern pass as the light began to fail. It was the kind of silence that comes before a promise is broken. Nobody in the harbor had seen an old map in a hundred years. It was the kind of silence that comes before a promise is broken.