KAEL – POV
We walked for hours in silence. The grove lay behind us like a closed door we didn't dare look back at. Every leaf whispered. Every tree leaned in.
Ayla didn't speak, but I could feel her sensing—stretching that new power of hers like a wolf testing the shape of its teeth.
The air itself felt warped around her. Something between heat and pressure and inevitability. I'd seen queens in gold palaces look less commanding in full regalia than she did in my cloak, ash-smudged and barefoot.
It wasn't just her scent that had changed.
It was gravity.
The bond had shifted. Still present, still alive. But it didn't pull anymore. It waited.
Just like I did.
We reached the clearing by dusk. A ring of moss-covered stones surrounded us, remnants of some forgotten rite. The wind died here. Even the birds had gone silent.
She stopped.
"They're watching," she said quietly.
I scanned the forest. "Rogues?"
"No," she murmured. "The Seers."
That made my spine stiff.
