The wind howled over the broken ridge, threading through ancient pines like a whispered warning.
Kael adjusted his grip on the leather reins as their mounts slowed to a careful trot along the frostbitten trail. Snow clung to the upper trees, though none had fallen in days. The sky was clear—but cold in a way that bit through bone, the kind of cold that remembered things even if the living tried to forget.
Isabella rode ahead, her cloak tucked tightly around her shoulders, though her face remained uncovered. She welcomed the chill. Needed it. The warmth inside her—the pulse of the seed—was growing hotter by the day. If she didn’t cool her skin, it burned.
But today, something else gnawed at her spine.
They weren’t alone.
Kael felt it too. His eyes flicked to the treeline often, his swo
