Nyra
The third flare painted the clouds in bone-white light.
I was on my feet before the echo faded.
"Elira," I barked, shaking her shoulder. "We've got movement."
She blinked once, then sat up in a fluid motion, already reaching for her boots. "Guess my shift's over."
Kael was awake too, sword already half drawn. Ava stirred against me, eyes wide and dazed.
"We're not safe anymore," I said. "They're circling closer."
"No more hiding, then," Elira muttered. "Good. My legs were falling asleep."
Within moments, the four of us were back on the move, ducking out of the cavern and into the chill-smothered dark. We pushed toward the east ridge, where jagged paths gave way to sweeping slopes. Somewhere beyond them, Wind territory began.
Ventaria.
"You sure this trail leads to a Wind Cloak outpost?" I asked.
"I'm sure it leads to a waterfall with a hidden door and a cantankerous old smuggler who owes me three favors and half a horse," Elira said.
Kael raised a brow. "Half a horse?"
"Long story. I won the front half in a card game."
I almost laughed. Almost.
The humor helped. For a while.
But as the sky paled to soft silver and the air warmed slightly, my pulse only climbed higher. We were crossing a threshold. I felt it in the wind itself, like the land could tell we didn't belong.
Ava stumbled, and I steadied her.
"Almost there," I whispered. "Then you'll rest."
She nodded, lips chapped and eyes unfocused.
"She needs water," Kael said, already unstrapping a flask.
When our hands touched, it was brief but sharp. Too sharp.
I yanked mine back. "Don't."
"I was just….."
"I know," I said quickly. "Just… don't."
The truth was, my skin still remembered the heat of his hands from the night I was shackled. From before that, even years ago, when we were children playing in the old fire gardens of Ignara. Before he left. Before everything fell apart.
"You ever think about it?" I asked suddenly.
Kael glanced at me. "Think about what?"
"The night it all burned."
He didn't answer right away.
"I remember the bells," I said. "And the smell of burning scrolls. And you… running toward the palace, not away from it."
His eyes met mine. "I was looking for you."
Something twisted in my chest.
"I didn't find you," he added. "Just smoke and bodies."
I looked away. "I thought you were part of it. For a long time."
"I know."
We didn't speak for a while after that.
Eventually, Elira motioned for us to duck low. "There," she whispered. "That cliff face. See the waterfall?"
We nodded.
"It's Wind territory," she said. "Officially. There's a Cloak sanctuary built behind it. But they don't take kindly to surprises."
"Then we knock?" Kael asked.
"No." Elira grinned.