Bound by Moonlight and Magic
The Hollow had always been alive—but now, it breathed.
Each gust of wind carried whispers. Each rustle in the trees was no longer just leaves or spirits, but possibilities unraveling. The boundary had been broken, and Ember’s arrival shifted more than the veil—it stirred something long-buried beneath the Hollow’s roots.
Something hungry.
Liora paced the perimeter of the glade where Ember slept, eyes sweeping the treetops, the sky, and the shifting shadows that clung too tightly to the edges of the firelight. Kael stood at her back, his arms crossed, his golden eyes never blinking.
“She’s still trembling,” Liora murmured.
“She crossed worlds,” Kael said, voice low. “It would break most people.”
“She didn’t break,” Liora replied, pride warming her chest e
