The forest didn’t feel like it belonged to this world anymore.
Cassian said nothing as we crossed into Moonveil’s outer edge—just ducked beneath the twisted arch of an ancient tree, eyes scanning the darkness like he expected the shadows to speak.
They didn’t.
But I felt them watching.
The air here was thicker. Not just heavy—*charged.* Every breath tasted like storm and ash, like something old and buried had stirred when I stepped through the trees.
“Where are we?” I asked, even though I already knew.
Cassian didn’t look back. “Somewhere the Elders pretended didn’t exist.”
He pressed forward. I followed.
The deeper we went, the stranger it got. No birds. No wind. Even our footfalls felt muffled, like the forest was trying to swallow the sound.
Moonveil.
I’d heard the name whispe
