The sun dipped low behind the forest as we began moving again, the last of the light stretching long shadows across the ground while the air cooled beneath the trees.
The rocky clearing we had rested in gradually disappeared behind us, swallowed by distance as the land sloped downward toward the northern valleys. The forest shifted subtly with every step, the terrain uneven but familiar beneath my boots, the scent of pine and damp earth grounding in a way nothing else ever had.
Kael paused briefly, his gaze lifting toward the sky as if measuring time against distance. After a moment, he gave a small nod.
“We shift.”
Ronan rolled his shoulders once, loose but not careless. “Took long enough.”
I was already slipping my pack from my shoulders.
We stepped off the narrow trail into a smal
