Morning found the clearing ruined and quiet, which somehow felt worse than the screaming. Broken trees leaned at impossible angles. Black ash dusted the grass where the shadow creature had shattered, and pale gold sparks still flickered in the cracks Camron’s hooves had carved into the earth. Azaliyah sat near the edge of the crater with her knees drawn up, pretending she had not spent most of the night watching Camron breathe. He lay a few feet away, human again, bare chest marked with faint silver horn-shaped lines beneath the skin, lashes still, mouth annoyingly peaceful for someone who had almost died and made it everyone else’s problem.
The morning should have felt calmer. Instead, something sharp pulsed beneath Azaliyah’s skin. She frowned and rubbed at her wrist, expecting dirt or
