The trees rose like ancient sentinels, silver-barked and towering, their canopies woven so tightly the sunlight barely pierced through. Moss draped from their limbs like old, trailing lace, and the wind moved strangely here—brushing against my skin in soft, circular currents as if it were listening.
We had arrived.
The Forest of Fairies.
I stood beside Ashvin at the forest’s edge, the soft thud of our horses' hooves muffled by the mossy earth. Behind us, the road curved back toward Paceum like a final tether to safety. Before us, everything vanished into green.
“So,” Ashvin said, gaze sweeping the tangle of shadows and mist ahead, “which way?”
I glanced at the charm the Imperial Mage had given me—just a glass bead filled with moonlight, no bigger than a pearl. He hadn’t explained how
