ELLIE’S POV
The sky above the Crimson Fang woods bled with color—deep violets and reds tangled together like a bruise spreading across the heavens. Dusk was falling fast, the last warmth of day slipping behind the hills like a secret trying to hide. Trees rose tall around me, cloaked in shadow, their branches swaying with whispers I couldn’t quite understand.
I shouldn’t have wandered this far.
The campfires would be lit by now, training winding down. Jovani would notice I was gone soon, if he hadn’t already. But I couldn’t go back yet. Not with the echo of last night’s dream still scraping across my skull like a broken glass.
I needed the silence. The isolation. I needed the ache of my legs moving uphill and the sting of cold air in my lungs to remind me I was still here. Still fighti
