The woods had never been so quiet. The only sound was my own breath, shaky and uneven as I pushed through the trees. Each step felt heavy, weighted with the unknown, with the power that was still thrumming beneath my skin. It wasn’t just the aftershocks of the fight that lingered. No. This was something different. Something I wasn’t prepared for.
Something I didn’t ask for.
I could feel the burn of the mark on my shoulder, a constant pulse of heat that matched the frantic beat of my heart. It had been bad enough when it was just a reminder of the past. But now it felt like a curse, a bond, a tether to something ancient, something I couldn’t control.
I didn’t stop moving, couldn’t stop moving, even though every part of me screamed to go back. To talk to Cassian. To explain it, whatever i
