KAEL
The boy’s words hunted me like a brand on skin. A golden streak on the hair, a crate marked with our crest, a letter sealed fresh for the dead, and yet I had nothing, just the stammering fear of a ten year old and a crippling dread, curling under my ribs like rot.
I couldn’t confront Zane, not yet. Not with that flimsy story from the mouth of a ten year old. He’d only laugh, turn it around on me, and I’d be the fool or worse, he’d vanish before I had a real chance to act.
So I waited, and watched, and when the frustration built too high, I walked to the woods to clear my head. That was where the gods did their whispering, anyway… in the hush of the forest, not in the crowded noise of man.
The leaves above rustled like they held secrets. My boots barely made a sound on the moss.
I
