Kaelen’s obsidian hand remains. He wears it as a reminder. The other elves call him Patched-Kaelen , not as a slur, but as a title.

Morvaine enters, her voice like grinding glass: “If one rust-fleck remains, I’ll patch your tongue into its hilt.”

Intrigued, Eira showed the tome to Lyraea, who revealed that the passage referred to an ancient, forgotten spell – one that required a rare, magical patch. The patch, Lyraea claimed, could only be crafted under the light of the full moon, using the silk of shadowflowers and the tears of the enslaved.