I wasn't expecting a message from my father. Especially not one that read like a report and hit like a hammer.
The Eastern Continent was... different.
I'd arrived with the Northern reinforcements, the Windward contingent. The Creightons had already split off to support Mount Hua, like dutiful nobles with a sense of timing slightly worse than ours. We were sent to Hwaeryun—what used to be vampire territory until the Kagu family decided to blow half their remaining strength retaking it.
It had been the crown jewel of the East. The heart. The seat of politics and martial pride. Reclaiming it had cost them dearly. A pyrrhic victory, if ever there was one.
