"You okay?" Liora asked, stepping into the breeze.
"Yeah . . . just thinking about the war. There's no going back now."
They stood in silence, the wind tugging at their clothes. Somewhere in the distance, a wolf howled.
The campfire had long since burned low, its once-golden light reduced to a faint red shimmer of coals. Most of the camp had fallen asleep, scattered in tents and resting under the sheltering arms of the forest.
The distant howls of night patrols echoed faintly through the trees, but here, at the edge of the overlook where pine needles softened the earth, the world felt still.
Liora sat with her knees pulled close, the rough wool blanket wrapped around her shoulders doing little to keep out the cold.
Beside her, Lyander sat shirtless, steam rising from his skin where sweat still clung to his body after a late-night training session.
