The mark followed me into my dreams. Even after we left the forest behind, its shape burned into my mind—a circle split down the center, precise and merciless. I saw it when I closed my eyes, glowing like a wound that wouldn’t heal.
By morning, the palace had swallowed us whole again, its polished marble and endless corridors offering no comfort. The whisper of silk and the clatter of boots on stone carried like a tide, all of it meaningless noise against the weight in my chest.
Wren kept her distance, for once silent. Gideon trailed behind us, his face carved into that same expression of quiet severity he wore whenever words would not suffice. The three of us moved together, and yet we were each alone, carrying the memory of that mark like a private curse.
It wasn’t just a message—it w
