Elara POV
The night has cooled properly, the warmth of lantern light fading behind me as shadow takes its place. The air feels different now—cleaner, quieter—like the land itself is exhaling after being full of voices. Stars scatter sharply overhead, unblurred by distant lights, and I tip my head back for a moment, breathing in pine, earth, and something else beneath it all.
Life, Caelans territory and its awareness.
“You always do that,” Kieran says mildly, falling into step beside me.
I glance at him. “Do what?”
“Pause like you’re taking inventory of the world,” he replies. “Makes people think you’re about to disappear into it.”
A smile touches my mouth. “I might, haven’t decided yet.”
He huffs a soft laugh, hands tucked loosely into his pockets as we follow the worn path that ski
