Sera's POV
As the carriage started to roll to a stop, an uneasy and familiar feeling came over me. Even Vera perked up from her quiet purr, her ears pinning back inside my mind as a cold prickle of apprehension swept down my spine.
We stepped down onto the damp, needle-littered earth, and I looked around at the towering pines and the sharp gray rocks of the valley. My hand stayed pressed against my lower stomach, but my eyes were drawn inexorably toward the dark, yawning cavern mouth set into the mountainside ahead—the entrance to the Ironridge mines.
I followed Gideon toward the cave, but with every step closer, the heavy, suffocating pressure in the air grew exponential. It wasn't an active pull, but an overwhelming, static weight—a thick, invisible fog of lingering magical energy so
