Chapter 35: Kaelen’s Desperation
The forest had never felt so suffocating.
Kaelen’s arms burned as he carried Seren, her body limp against his chest, her breath shallow and uneven. Her skin—once radiant under moonlight—was pale, gray around the edges, as if the poison coursing through her veins sought to strip her of life itself.
Her eyes fluttered weakly, lips trembling, and she whispered a single word that nearly shattered him:
“Stay…”
Kaelen’s jaw clenched. He had no intention of leaving her, but with every heartbeat he felt her slipping further away. The wolves running alongside him sensed it too—Lyra in her lupine form, her silver-gray fur streaked with mud, snarled as though she could tear apart the very curse eating Seren alive. Behind them, the pack’s younger warriors struggle
