CIARAN
The western cliffs were a thirty minutes' run from the great hall if you didn't slow down.
We didn't slow down.
Liam walked with me on my left, Rhidian on my right and Dylan was at our backs, his boots crunching on the grass.
There were a pair of guards behind them.
The moon was high enough to cast silver over the water when the stench hit—brine, blood, and something so vile it curled the flesh at the back of my throat.
Rhidian stiffened. "That's not the sea's fault."
"Do you know what that is?" I asked.
"Not exactly." His pale eyes scanned the cliffs ahead of us. "But I don't like it either."
We reached the point where land fell in a straight drop into black waves. The patrol leader arrived, jogging up, panting. "Alpha—over here".
He led us down a narrow path to a shelf
