Page 20

20

NARANUS

I wake to the weight of her absence.

The warmth she left behind still lingers on my skin, a phantom sensation that shouldn’t mean anything, but it does. I’m already on edge before my eyes even open.

I hear something, a sound that doesn’t belong.

Soft, deliberate movement just beyond the cabin walls.

My body tenses, muscles locking as instinct takes over. The fire has burned low, casting the room in deep, shifting shadows. Eryss is standing near the far wall, rigid, her posture sharp with the same tension clawing up my spine.

She hears it too.

Whoever is outside isn’t trying to mask their approach.

They are waiting.

Hunting.

My mind moves through possibilities, but none of them are good. Rogues wouldn’t have waited this long to strike. A lone traveler wouldn’t move like this, circling slow, testing the perimeter.

Whoever it is knows we are here.

I shift, careful not to make noise as I rise to my full height. My wings ache, battered and useless, but my claws curl, sharp and ready. Eryss’s eyes flick toward me, her breathing controlled, but fast.

I motion for her to stay still.

She glares at me like I’ve suggested something offensive.

I step closer, my voice low and sharp. “Let me handle this.”

She scoffs under her breath. “Like you handled almost getting us killed yesterday?”

I suppress a growl, unwilling to waste time arguing with her. She’s reckless. Always looking for an opening to prove something. Always pressing back, even when the smarter choice is to stand down.

I see what she’s holding.

A notebook.

One that wasn’t there when we arrived.

“Where did you get that?” I ask, my voice too quiet, too controlled.

She doesn’t answer immediately. Her grip on the book tightens, her jaw twitching.

Her silver eyes meet mine.

“There’s a Purna here.”

The words dig under my skin, an immediate, violent realization hitting me all at once.

Purna. Not was. Is.

Whoever is outside isn’t just passing through.

They’ve been waiting for us to wake up.

They’ve been waiting for her. For me.

A sudden rustling outside sends me moving before I think. I shove Eryss back against the wall, shielding her with my body, one hand braced beside her head, the other already reaching for a weapon that isn’t there.

She gasps, startled by the sudden movement. “What the hell are you doing?”

I bare my teeth. “You led us straight into a trap, little bride.”

Her glare sharpens. “I didn’t lead us anywhere. You were the one who?—”

A sound cuts through her words.

A voice. A whisper.

Low. Chanting.

Magic.

Every muscle in my body tightens violently.

The Purna outside is casting something, their power seeping through the cracks in the walls, the ground itself shifting with unnatural energy.

Fuck.

I move before I can think.

I grab Eryss’s wrist, dragging her away from the door. “We’re leaving.”

She yanks back. “Are you serious? We don’t even know who?—”

“I don’t care.” My voice is rough, edged with the sharp undercurrent of a warning. “Whoever they are, they aren’t here to help.”

She hesitates, her gaze flicking toward the notebook still clutched in her hand.

She’s thinking too hard.

Trying to rationalize something that doesn’t need logic.

My grip on her wrist tightns, akin to shackles. “Move, Eryss.”

The front door bursts open.

The storm outside sends a rush of wind slamming through the room, scattering ash from the dead fire, the smell of damp earth and something older, heavier, twisting in the air.

A figure steps inside, hooded, draped in shadows.

I feel it immediately.

Power. Thick. Ancient. Twisting through the room like a second heartbeat.

They lift their head, and I see the flash of golden markings along their skin.

A Purna mage.

Eryss stiffens beside me.

The figure steps forward, the wooden floor creaking beneath their weight. They are calm. Too calm. Their lips curl slightly, like they already know something we don’t.

Their voice is soft, smooth. Too smooth.

“I was wondering when you’d wake up.”

I don’t give them a chance to say anything else.

I move to kill.