The clearing went silent in a way that felt wrong, even the forest seemed to hold its breath, Mila couldn’t move, couldn’t blink. Couldn’t pull air into her lungs no matter how hard she tried.
The man standing a few steps away from the elders wore a face she had buried, mourned, and bled over for years.
Alive, Smiling, “You’re dead,” she whispered,
the word scraped out of her throat like broken glass.
The man tilted his head, studying her the way someone studies a scar they remember making, “that’s what they wanted you to believe.”
Alexander shifted instantly, placing himself in front of her, his presence was solid, protective, a wall between her and the past rushing toward her.
“You will not take another step,” Alexander said, voice low and lethal.
The man chuckled softly, “so th
