The road from Crestwood to Asterwyn wound through silver-wooded forests and rolling hills, but the closer Sophia and her companions came to the capital’s outer rim, the stranger the land began to feel.
The air grew heavier.
Thicker.
Even Remi realized how much the weather had changed and wrapped her scarf firmly around her as the horses took it slow in the changing weather.
She began, somewhat irritably, “I don’t appreciate how this place acts.”
“No, it’s not about the place,” whispered Myra. “It’s what passed through it.”
Sophia glanced at her. The seer rode her horse with effortless grace, her gloved fingers tracing the air every now and then, sensing. Listening.
“Residual energy?” Sophia asked.
Myra nodded. “Magic. And powerful. But it’s… bent. Twisted.”
Behind them, Kael, the
