The forest swallowed their footsteps as they ran.
Mist curled around their legs, cold and heavy, clinging to Lira's skin like a warning. Her mark still throbbed faintly beneath her tunic, each pulse echoing the memory of the golden burst that had saved them.
Kael didn't speak.
He moved with sharp, controlled urgency — the kind that came from fear he refused to show. Lira kept close behind him, her breath uneven, her thoughts tangled.
The Shadehound had been sent for her.
And it wasn't done.
When they finally slowed, Kael guided her toward a cluster of boulders half‑hidden beneath a curtain of vines. A narrow gap between the stones formed a natural shelter.
"Inside," Kael said quietly.
Lira ducked into the space. Kael followed, crouching low. The air was cool and damp, but the stone walls muffled the forest sounds enough to give them a moment to breathe.
Lira pressed a hand to her chest. "Kael… what exactly is a Shadehound?"
Kael's jaw tightened. "A creature born from shadow magic. It hunts what it's bound to. It doesn't stop. It doesn't tire. And it doesn't die unless its summoner releases it."
Lira's stomach twisted. "So it will keep coming."
"Yes."
"And it's bound to me."
Kael met her gaze, his eyes dark. "Because of your mark. Because of what you are."
Lira swallowed hard. "The Starborn."
Kael didn't deny it.
Instead, he reached into his cloak and pulled out a small dagger — not his usual blade, but a shorter one with runes etched along the handle.
He held it out to her.
Lira stared. "What is that for?"
"Protection," Kael said. "If the Shadehound finds us again, you'll need something."
Lira shook her head. "Kael, I don't know how to fight."
"You don't need to," he said. "You just need to survive."
She hesitated — then took the dagger. Her fingers brushed his, and the contact sent a strange warmth through her chest.
Kael didn't pull away.
"Lira," he said softly, "I won't let anything happen to you."
Her breath caught. "You can't promise that."
"No," he admitted. "But I can try."
The silence between them deepened — not empty, but charged. Lira felt the weight of everything unsaid pressing against her ribs.
Before she could speak, a faint sound drifted through the forest.
Not a howl.
A whisper.
A voice.
Lira…
Her blood ran cold.
Kael stiffened. "Stay behind me."
The whisper came again, curling through the mist like smoke.
Child of the fallen star… the hunter carries your name.
Lira's heart pounded. "It's the Seer's voice."
Kael shook his head. "No. This is different."
The mist thickened outside the shelter, swirling like a living thing. A shape formed — not solid, not fully real, but unmistakably humanoid.
A figure cloaked in shadow.
Kael drew his blade instantly. "Show yourself!"
The figure didn't move closer. Instead, its voice echoed through the stones.
The Shadehound hunts by oath.
Blood was spilled.
The bond is sealed.
Lira's breath trembled. "What does that mean?"
The figure turned its faceless head toward her.
Your power awakened.
The hound tasted it.
Now it will not stop.
Kael stepped forward, blade raised. "How do we break the bond?"
The figure's voice shifted — deeper, older.
With truth.
With memory.
With the one who sent you.
Lira's heart lurched. "Eli?"
The figure flickered. Not him.
The one who opened the Veil.
The one who chose your fate.
Lira shook her head. "I don't understand!"
You will.
At the moonlit cliffs.
Before the next full moon.
Or the hound will claim your soul.
The mist collapsed.
The figure vanished.
Silence fell.
Lira sank to her knees, trembling. "Kael… I don't know who sent me. I don't know why I'm here."
Kael knelt beside her, gripping her shoulders gently. "Then we find out. We go to the cliffs."
Lira looked up at him, fear and determination warring in her chest. "What if the truth is something I don't want to remember?"
Kael brushed a strand of hair from her face — a rare, unguarded gesture.
"Then I'll face it with you."
Her breath hitched.
For a moment, the world narrowed to the warmth of his hands, the steadiness of his gaze, the unspoken promise between them.
Then a distant howl shattered the moment.
Closer.
Hungrier.
Kael stood, pulling Lira to her feet. "We move now."
Lira tightened her grip on the dagger.
The Shadehound was coming.
And the truth — whatever it was — waited at the moonlit cliffs.