( Kael's POV )
The rain had not stopped.
It came in sheets, relentless and cold, blurring the world into silver and shadow. The forest around them was a chorus of water and wind, the storm’s fury masking all other sounds. No pursuit, no voices. Only the storm.
Kael dragged driftwood into the hollow beneath a leaning rock face, his movements brisk and wordless. The small space smelled of earth and moss, the roof low enough that they had to stoop to enter. He struck flint to steel until sparks caught, coaxing a small fire to life.
The flames shuddered in the wind, but they held.
I stood just inside the hollow, rain dripping from my hair, my clothes plastered to my skin. My teeth chattered from the cold, but it wasn’t just that. It was everything, the running, the fight, the weight of n
