The journey back from Stone Valley felt different.
Not quieter.
Not safer.
Just… heavier.
Every step through the forest carried the weight of what we had just set in motion.
A temporary alliance with Seraphine.
A planned strike against Red Hollow.
And a shift in power that could not be undone once it began.
Snow crunched beneath my boots as we moved through the narrow forest paths, the sky above dimming slowly as afternoon stretched toward evening.
No one spoke for a long time.
Each of us was thinking.
Calculating.
Preparing.
Finally, Mira broke the silence.
“I still don’t like her.”
I glanced slightly in her direction.
“I didn’t expect you to.”
“She’s too calm,” Mira continued. “Too controlled. People like that don’t show everything.”
“She showed enough,” Tarek said.
Mi
