(Aria's POV )
The forest didn’t sing when we returned.
Even after we left the Shadow Keep far behind, silence clung to us like a second skin. The pack moved as one, alert, restless, half expecting Ronan’s shadow to rise from the trees and strike again. But nothing came. Not a whisper. Not a tremor.
Kael led the way, one hand never straying far from his blade. His steps were steady, but I could feel the tension in the way his shoulders locked with every sound. Lyra trailed behind, hood pulled low, the faint light of her runes nothing more than a pale ghost against the fading dusk.
And me...
I walked between them, feeling both lighter and more hollow than I’d ever felt in my life. The Veilstone had stripped Ronan’s bond from me. I could breathe without the weight of him pressing down o
