Leah Carter’s Point of View
The black eyes stared at us from beneath the cursed tree, cold, ancient, and alive.
Kael’s hand gripped my arm, pulling me back just as the roots began to twist again. Smoke rose from the ground, carrying the sharp scent of blood and iron. For one heart-stopping moment, I thought the thing beneath the earth would rise.
Then, as suddenly as it began, the forest went still. The eyes faded, swallowed by shadow, only the emblem of the Eastern Clan remained, half-buried in the ash, glowing faintly like a dying coal.
Kael exhaled slowly, his voice rough. “Whatever that was… it’s not done.”
I looked around, my heart hammering, the air itself seemed poisoned, heavy with dark power. “We need to leave,” I said. “Now.”
Kael didn’t argue. He tore a strip from his cloa
