A guard called Rowan attention and he left ordering another guard to walk Ayla to her cabin.
Sleep refused to come.
Ayla lay awake in her cabin, staring at the wooden ceiling above her.
Outside, Black Hollow was silent.
Too silent.
Every creak of old timber made her tense. Every gust of wind against the walls made her heart race.
And every time she closed her eyes, she saw the same thing.
A shadow moving between the trees.
Watching.
Waiting.
The figure she and Rowan had seen at the edge of the forest.
Whoever it was, they hadn't bothered hiding once they realized they had been spotted.
That was what unsettled her most.
The confidence.
The certainty.
As though they knew no one would catch them.
Ayla turned onto her side and pulled the blanket tighter around herself.
It didn
