Morning sunlight filtered through the thick curtain of vines and overgrowth that concealed the entrance, bathing the hollowed-out root cave in a dappled, earthy glow. The bioluminescent crystals that had lit their night were now dim, overpowered by the day.
Kael blinked his eyes open. For a moment, he didn't move. He simply breathed, filling his lungs with air that smelled of sweet wood, damp earth, and her.
He looked down.
Curled against his chest, wrapped in white furs and looking like a drowsy angel, was Ren. Her red hair was fanned out over his arm, and her breathing was slow and deep.
Kael stared at her peaceful, sleeping face, a lump forming in his throat.
He couldn't remember how he got here. His last clear memory was the suffocating darkness of his own cave and the sensation of his mind fracturing into a thousand pieces. He didn't know how Ren had escaped the Snake King's swamp. He didn't know how she had found him.
But none of that mattered.
