Kenna's POV
The wave of light receded, leaving the forest floor glowing with a faint, bioluminescent hum. Below, the shadows were no longer hiding monsters; they were merely empty spaces between the trees. I could feel the tether to Kaelum and Kassia slowly humming down to a low thrum, our breathing synchronized in the sudden, ringing silence of the night.
"They're retreating," Kassia whispered, her silver eyes scanning the soul-threads that were now snapping back toward the palace like elastic. "The trackers' fear is a physical weight on the wind. Morvan’s eyes in these woods have been blinded."
From the darkness of the garden below, a massive shape emerged. Kaelen, in his human form but still radiating the raw, territorial heat of the wolf, stepped into the light spilling from the ve
