Chapter 42 – Into the Whispering Woods
The rain came down in sheets, heavy and frigid, washing the grime of the lower slums from Aria’s face but doing nothing to cool the simmering heat beneath her skin. For hours, she and Zara had moved like ghosts through the outer rings of the city, evading patrols of council guards whose silver armor gleamed ominously through the downpour.
Now, they stood at the edge of the world.
Before them lay the Blood Border or what was left of it. The massive, jagged runes carved into the boundary stones, which once glowed with a protective crimson light, were dark, fractured, and weeping black sludge. Beyond the shattered barrier stretched the Whispering Woods. The trees were ancient, their gnarled, pale branches weaving together like skeletal fingers against
