Aria’s POV
The Northern Path narrowed, cliffs on either side now scraping the gray sky. Frost glittered on every branch, but it was deceptive and beneath it, the earth groaned and shifted. Aria’s boots crunched over snow so thin in places it barely covered the rock, each step echoing in the silence.
Kael moved beside her, shoulders tense, light pulsing faintly beneath his gloves. “The tremors aren’t stopping,” he murmured. “Whatever lies ahead isn’t waiting. It’s moving.”
Aria’s gaze swept the ridge ahead. A faint shimmer, like heat over stone, blurred the horizon. The next gate waited there, but it wasn’t alone. Figures flitted in the distance, half-shadow, half-solid, like wraiths born from ice and nightmare.
Verran stopped behind them, ears flat against his skull. “They’ve brought r
