CHAPTER 48:
The first frost hardened into ice beneath our boots before dawn. We moved in single file, Gareth leading, his eyes scanning the tree line for patrols, his steps silent as a shadow. The air grew sharper with every mile, carrying the bite of snow that waited higher in the peaks. Behind us, the ridge blazed violet against the sky—our home, our fortress, sealed and burning, a beacon of loss we could not bear to look back on. But we did not stop. We could not. Every minute we delayed was another minute they hunted us.
We traveled through the grey pre-dawn light, staying deep in the forest, far from roads and open ground. No one spoke much. There was too much to say, and too little time to say it. My chest ached with every breath—not just from the cold, but from the hollow, burning
