Caitlyn’s POV
The path narrowed as we pushed deeper into Hollowed Ridge. Snow had stopped falling and wind dropped to a quiet hum. Not poetic. Just nature doing its thing while we marched the same old route.
Rael walked ahead. Steady. Precise. His boots barely made a sound on the frozen ground. I thought I was quiet—until I watched him move and realized I was clomping around like a toddler in boots three sizes too big.
Keir kept complaining. Something about wrong maps and hills that never ended. The caravan felt tense. Some of the hired fighters—mercenaries, though I’d call them hired guns—kept patting their weapons like that would ward off shadows.
There was something close. I didn’t even have to guess. It was under our feet, not in the trees.
The ground shifted beneath me, firmer th
