Elara’s POV
The forest felt too still after those words, like even the wind had pulled back to listen, and I couldn’t tell if the silence pressing in around us was coming from the wolves in the trees or from something deeper that had settled into my chest the moment the figure spoke.
The Key lives.
It wasn’t a guess.
It wasn’t a threat thrown out to see what would stick.
It sounded like certainty.
Kael’s hand tightened around mine, grounding and firm, but I could feel the shift in him through the bond, the way his instincts were turning sharper, more dangerous, calculating every possible outcome in the space between one breath and the next.
“You’re a long way from Blood-Iron territory,” he said, his voice low and controlled, but there was an edge beneath it that made the air
