The forest seemed to hold its breath. Every leaf stilled. Every sound died. Even the wind dared not move.
Zane took a step forward, the dirt crunching beneath his boots. The training field huddled with his pack whispering behind him, but he barely noticed. His attention was fixed on the dark line of trees ahead, where the scent, her scent, was coming from.
For a long, unbearable heartbeat, nothing happened. Lilith stayed hidden, after excruciating minutes.
She stepped out.
Lilith Rothwell emerged from the shadows like the moon rising over a battlefield, slow, deliberate, unshaken. Her hair was damp from the mist, her gear dusted with travel and blood from cuts she hadn’t bothered to clean. The dagger at her thigh gleamed under the half-light, but her eyes, those storm-gray eyes, were
