Heart of the Highlands: Soren
I didn’t let go of her right away. I couldn’t. The smell of strawberry shampoo and the strange Chicago wind still lingered in the air like a taunt, and I could feel the way Penny still trembled against my breastplate. I had spent centuries guarding kings and queens, but I had never felt a weight as heavy as her grief. “Stay close,” I said, my voice coming out as a gravelly rasp. I finally stepped back, but I kept my hand hovering near the small of her back as Caelis worked the mechanism. The iron door didn’t creek; it hummed. The runes flared a brilliant, steady blue, and the door swung inward to reveal a circular chamber carved from solid obsidian. This was a sanctuary untouched by the shifting tides of the mountain’s maze. Caelis stepped in first, her boots echoing on the polished fl
- Writer
