Elara’s POV
The rogue’s laughter faded into the trees.
Finn and Mira had dragged him away, his yellow eyes still gleaming with mockery even as they shoved him toward the holding cells. The forest settled back into silence, the kind of silence that follows violence, thick and watchful.
Dorian stood beside me, his hand still on my shoulder from where he had pulled me into that brief, fierce hug. His breathing was slow now, controlled. The gold had almost completely faded from his eyes.
“Come on,” he said quietly. “Let’s go back.”
I nodded. I didn’t speak. I couldn’t.
The walk to the lodge was a blur.
My feet moved, but I didn’t feel the ground. My eyes saw the trees, the moonlight, the dark shape of the lodge growing larger, but I didn’t register any of it. There was only a roaring in
