DARIUS'S POV
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She smiled at everyone but me.
I watched her through the crowd, sitting tall in that silver dress, crown of flowers in her hair, laughing too softly, holding her goblet too tight. It looked perfect. We looked perfect. And somehow I knew… she .
The woods were quieter than usual tonight. Still. Like they were listening.
I ran.
Not fully shifted, just enough to move fast. Enough to hear the trees whisper. I reached the marker stone behind the old riverbed—half-covered in moss, cracked clean through the middle. Beyond it, the ground turned darker, colder. Magic lived here.
She was already waiting.
The sorceress. Gray cloak, hands like twigs, eyes like something that hadn’t been human in a long time. She was sitting on a stump, drawing circles in the dirt with her finge
