Chapter 4 — Echoes in the Moonlight

Kael

The mist clung to Kael like a second skin, heavy and damp, as he moved deeper into the Bloodpine Forest. The air was thick, choking with the acrid tang of iron and decay. Each step he took seemed to echo endlessly, the forest amplifying even the smallest sounds, as if the trees themselves were listening. He could still feel the weight of Alana’s defiance in his chest—a stubborn heat that settled alongside the cold, familiar ache of regret. Her amber eyes burned in his mind, blazing with the same fury she had always carried, the same fire that had once drawn him to her and now threatened to consume her completely.