LILA’S POV
The night felt… wrong.
Not quiet. Not tense.
Empty.
Like something had already been taken and the world hadn’t realized it yet.
I stood at the highest ridge overlooking our territory, the wind tugging at my hair, my wings half-unfurled behind me. Below, the camp flickered with torchlight. Wolves moved. Guards patrolled. Life continued.
But I couldn’t feel them.
Not the way I used to.
That connection the pulse that once tied me to every heartbeat in this territory had gone distant. Faint. Like an echo instead of a bond.
And it terrified me more than any enemy ever had.
“Lila.”
Nathan’s voice was soft behind me, careful, like he was approaching something fragile.
Maybe I was.
I didn’t turn. “You feel it too.”
It wasn’t a question.
He stepped beside me, golden aura d
