Aria’s POV
The road to the Moon Kingdom's border wasn't marked on any map Damon owned, but Selena's information, combined with what Ethan had pieced together from the correspondence, gave him a rough direction to follow. He rode alone once Victor turned back, the pain in his chest a steady companion through two full days of travel, sharper whenever he let himself think too long about what he'd say if he actually found her.
He camped the second night in a clearing not far from where the ambush had happened, close enough that he found evidence of it still — a scorched patch of ground, dark stains on the dirt that hadn't fully washed away. He stood there for a long moment, imagining Aria in the middle of that chaos, imagining how close she'd come to dying because of choices that had nothin
