Leah
We emerged from the tunnel gasping, water streaming off our skin as we hauled ourselves onto the flat crown of Diamond Cliff. The roar of the falls fell away behind us, replaced by the sudden hush of high altitude—wind sighing through grass, the distant cry of a hawk, the soft rattle of loose stones underfoot. The plateau stretched wide and empty under a sky turning the color of bruised plums. No guards. No patrols. Just wind and wildflowers and the faint metallic scent of altitude.
I didn’t waste time catching my breath. I started searching immediately—methodical, relentless—turning over every rock, parting every clump of silver grass, running my fingers through the thin soil. Kaelen moved silently beside me, mirroring my pattern, though I could feel his eyes on me more often than
