Ronan inhaled softly, exhaling heavily. “Why such an elite group?”
Aero blinked, taken aback. “Why...Ronan, no one can find them. This is unlikely an attack on the Kaida themselves. They’re not prey in this moment. If their essence was spilling, the realm itself would show it. I fear this is something far worse—”
“I know what the Kaida are,” Ronan cut in. “But send newbloods. Not my warriors.”
Obsidian breath rose, rolling up Ronan’s torso, cloaking him in living shadow. When it peeled back, Aero cursed, averting his eyes.
What stood before him now wasn’t a prince, but a power the mountain had forged itself.
Ronan stepped deeper into the surf, a sheer curtain of darkness still moving with him as water reached for his thighs.
Over his shoulder, he said, “Send one high-ranked if you must. But keep Inessa and Kanoa here. I may have need for them.”
Aero opened his mouth to protest, but Ronan was already gone, a blur of dusk and muscle diving into the white-crest waves. The sea closed over him, its surface already stilling, calm again as the half-moon lulled it to sleep.
Aero remained on the shoreline, waiting, watching what the ocean refused to give back. Listening to the hush that followed.
Only then did he whisper, words meant for the deep, “They’re not just disappearing, Ronan. They’re being hunted.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Verena
AS A CHILD, I DREAMT OF FIELDS THAT NEVER ENDED—long, flowing grass bowing beneath the kiss of the sun. Warmth lingered like an embrace, scented with vanilla and caramel, sweet and safe.
A woman would come to me there, her chestnut hair spilling in waves, her smile soft as she bent low.
My little bird,she would hum, lips brushing my cheek.
Those dreams felt familiar. Felt like home.
Until the dark crept in, a shadow-tide bleeding across the horizon, swallowing light and scent and safety.
And my nightmares chased them away.
Wisps of black cloud poured from the peaks of a snow-laden mountain, slithering down its face in shadows.
My legs barreled through the passage, the path curving sharp around the border.
Crystals of white and grey fractured the newborn sunlight, mocking the collapse of my body as my knees struck the ground.
The shrouds of black behind me kept coming.
Roaring. Consuming.
Pain tore through my legs, but I shoved myself up again, staggering forward only seconds before the gloom could catch me. The bottom of the mountain was so close.
A few yards. If I reached it, it could not touch me there.
I would be safe.
A shriek ripped from my throat as something rough and cold, wrapped tight around my leg, yanking me back, hard enough my face cracked against the ice.
My nails clawed at the shadow gripping me, tearing at it. But the hold only tightened as the mass shifted, its form molding into what my nightmares had been bred from.
I screamed as it slid higher, searing into my flesh. My skin withered at its touch, curling, crumbling, until my leg turned to dust before my eyes.
My muscles seized, lungs choking for air that would not come. Every inch of me, my very existence, was pulled into the horror unfolding.
