Veyra and Medusa had sat down silently, their backs pressed against the rough bark of a frozen tree.
The forest around them was quiet, the kind of heavy silence that didn't feel natural.
Neither of them spoke at first.
They didn't need to.
Both women knew that anything they said would only circle back to the same question.
Still, their eyes wandered toward the massive hive-tree that towered in the distance.
Somewhere in that hell, Azel was fighting for his life.
They waited for the sound of an explosion.
Minutes dragged like hours.
Medusa clenched and unclenched her hands in her lap, her jaw tight.
The silence was suffocating, and though she forced herself to stay still, she wanted to act.
Her mind raced with plans, all of which ended with her sending in a drone to check on him.
Yet her lips remained pressed shut.
Her last spider-drone had been destroyed before even reaching the hive.
"…Do you think he'll be okay?" Veyra finally asked, her voice small.
