“It is answer enough for now,” he snapped. “We waste time. We need to go.”
Bria shook her head, drawing in a breath to steady herself. “I will not remain in these woods past nightfall.”
Something in his expression softened, though not his resolve.
“I cannot promise that,” he said.
The words struck her harder than she expected.
“But I give you my word,” he continued, a strength in his voice and a glare in his eyes that left no room to doubt him. “No harm will come to you while you are with me.”
Bria almost believed him, but she had seen too much as a comfort healer to believe it possible. “You cannot promise such a thing.”
“I can,” he insisted, without an ounce of doubt, only certainty.
She went to argue the impossible, but the beast cried out again.
The sound tore through the forest, distant yet powerful, echoing through the trees in a way that set her heart racing.
Kaelan turned at once. “There is no more time.”
His hand clamped tighter around hers, making sure she would remain alongside him as he rushed off.
Bria stumbled a step before finding her footing, forced to follow as he led her deeper into the forest, his pace swift and unrelenting.
Branches brushed at her cloak, the ground uneven beneath her feet, the trees growing denser the farther they went. The light dimmed steadily, shadows gathering where the forestthickened, the air shifting with a quiet that felt heavier than before.
She did not speak. There was no breath for it. Only the sound of their movement and the lingering echo of the beast’s cry guiding them onward.
Bria thought she would have no breath left in her; they traveled so fast and for quite a distance. Then Kaelan suddenly slowed, and she slowed along with him.
She took a moment to catch her breath, then she glanced at him. He stared straight ahead and she paused a moment not sure if she wanted to look, but she did.
Through the tangle of trees, she saw it… the beast.
Its pale form stood out even in the dimming light, massive and unmistakable as it moved with powerful, deliberate steps toward a darker stretch of forest where the trees grew close and the shadows deepened unnaturally.
It did not hesitate. It crossed into the darkness as though it belonged there.
Fear gripped Bria. “This is far enough. We turn back now.”
Kaelan did not move. He remained silent, watching the beast disappear into shadow.
Then he stepped forward.
Bria tugged at his hand, stopping him. “Nay!”
He stilled, his brow narrowing as he glanced at her.
“We cannot go there,” she said, a tremble in her voice despite her effort to keep it steady. “We cannot cross that boundary.”
His gaze looked back to the darkness ahead, then back at her, his brow narrowing.
“We cannot go there,” she repeated and lowered her voice to a whisper. “That is Driochmor.”
The name settled heavier than the shadows themselves.
“No one crosses into it and returns unchanged,” she continued just above a whisper. “Many do not return at all.”
