Chapter 42
Varin's POV
The cold air bit into my skin as I stood just outside the clearing, my fists clenched so tightly that my nails dug into my palms. The soft chanting of the elders carried through the forest, the sound both haunting and victorious.
They had the shard.
Zeraphine and Draven had made it to the elders before us.
“How could this happen?” Rivara hissed beside me, her voice trembling with fury. “We rigged the hunt! We cast the spell! This was supposed to be ours!”
Her silver eyes burned with anger, and her hands sparked faintly with residual magic. I wanted to yell, to smash something, to do anything that could erase this humiliation.
“They got lucky,” I muttered, though the words felt hollow.
Lucky? No. This wasn’t just luck. Draven’s stubborn resilience and Zeraphin
