POV: Aria
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When the howling stopped, I almost wished it hadn’t.
Silence in the woods means a hunt is over — or something worse has crept in and stolen the prey. For hours after Kael dragged me from the Circle’s ruin, the hush clung to our shoulders like a burial shroud.
He didn’t speak as he carried me. My knees wouldn’t hold me yet — my veins burned with leftover Veil-light that wouldn’t settle. I clung to the front of his shirt, forehead pressed to the space under his jaw, listening to his heartbeat.
Not the Veil’s. Not the mark’s. His.
Alive. Still mine.
⸻
They waited when we crossed back through the tree line — Ashen, Lira, what was left of the enforcers. Some wolves watched with wide eyes, claws half-shifted, tails tucked like pups who’d seen a storm they didn’t understand.
