Kora’s POV
Edward didn’t set me down until we were miles from the clearing. My body still shook with exhaustion, the fire inside me guttering like a candle in the wind. Every time I tried to tell him I could walk, his jaw tightened and his arms only held me closer.
Mara didn’t argue either. She just walked ahead, silent, her eyes scanning the shadows as if expecting Aaron himself to step out of the trees.
The Black Pines didn’t grow lighter the further we moved. If anything, they grew darker, thicker. The trunks pressed closer together, the branches overhead blocking out what little light the sky gave. It felt like walking through a throat that was slowly closing, swallowing us whole.
By the time Edward finally set me down on a moss-covered boulder, I felt like my bones had turned to g
