The field between the last trees and the outer farms was longer than it looked.
We crossed it before full sunrise. No cover. No second chances. Every distant rooster crow and every bark of a farm dog felt like a finger pointing straight at us.
Darius’s limp had worsened. The arrow wound in his thigh and the deeper knife injury under his ribs spoke constantly through the bond. I felt the exact moment each step became a calculated negotiation between pain and forward motion. Lina walked on his other side, shoulder still bound, but her eyes never stopped moving.
Halfway across, the bond spiked hard enough to steal my breath.
It was like being struck in the chest with a burning blade. The pain was so sudden, so absolute, that my knees buckled. Darius staggered. I caught him, my arms wrap
