
Prior's Ash gathered on an autumn common for the season's first meeting of the hounds. George Godolphin watched his father arrive on horseback after six months of severe illness. You step into this one-chapter preview with Maria Hastings at the center, where choices turn on the people, promises, and pressure already in the room. The first run has begun, but the unanswered shadow will test which promise I mean to keep. The chapter closes on a continuation question rather than resolving the novel's larger arc.
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