He simply walked forward until he stood a few paces to Keegan’s left.
The two men didn’t look at each other.
Not yet.
But the tension between them hung in the air like the moment before a storm breaks.
Ardetia noticed it too.
Her gaze moved thoughtfully between them.
Nova crossed her arms.
“Well,” Nova murmured under her breath, glancing between the two men. “This should be interesting.”
I pushed myself a little straighter against the maple, the bark rough against my shoulder. My legs still felt like someone had replaced the bones with warm jelly, but standing there like a fainting Victorian heroine didn’t seem like the right move either.
“Is the Priestess gone?” I asked.
Bella blew out a breath and ran a hand through her hair. “For now.”
“Retreated,” Ardetia added calmly. “Which is not the same thing as defeated.”
“Fantastic,” Stella muttered, still clutching the skillet like she expected another shadow to pop out of a shrub.
Twobble turned slowly in a circle, squinting around the clearing like a tiny inspector conducting a headcount.
“Did we lose anyone important?”
Skonk stiffened beside him.
“I’m still here.”
“That wasn’t the question,” Twobble said.
They immediately started bickering in low voices behind Nova, but my attention had already drifted away from them.
Something wasn’t sitting right.
It felt like when you leave the house and get halfway down the street before realizing you forgot something. That small, persistent tug in the back of your mind that refuses to let you ignore it.
I scanned the clearing again.
Broken branches.
Trampled leaves.
A few witches helping someone up near the edge of the trees.
But not—
My stomach dipped.
Rendel.
I pushed away from the maple a little and looked more carefully toward the tree line.
Nothing.
