The air shifted.
The howls were not distant anymore. They had closed in, fast, ruthless, coordinated. Kael knew those cries. They weren't random. They were signals. Warnings to one another.
A hunt had begun.
And he was the prey.
Kael turned to Elira. She was no longer smiling. Her hand moved beneath her cloak, fingers gripping something unseen.
"They're coming in from the east and south," she murmured. "At least six of them."
Kael sniffed the wind. She was right. Six... no, seven. One of them was a tracker. A good one.
"How do you know their formation?" he asked, eyes sharp.
"Because I used to run with them," she replied.
Before Kael could respond, the first shadow moved through the trees.
A low growl. Followed by another. Then silence.
Kael didn't wait.
He grabbed Elira by the arm and yanked her behind the thickest tree he could find just as a black-furred werewolf lunged through the brush, jaws wide.
Kael met it mid-air, slamming it into the snow with a crack that shook the ground. Blood sprayed as Kael's fist drove into the beast's ribs.
"Go!" he shouted at Elira.
She didn't argue. She sprinted through the trees, cloak flying. Kael followed, leaping over fallen logs, dodging claws and fangs.
The forest became a blur. Pine needles slapped his face. Ice crunched beneath his feet. Behind them, more howls rose, closer, angrier.
"Why are they after you?" Elira shouted as they ran.
"Because I'm still breathing," Kael growled.
They reached a frozen ravine. Sharp cliffs on both sides. The river below was half-ice, half-death.
Kael looked down. Then up. He knew what had to be done.
"Jump," he said.
"You first."
Kael grabbed her hand. And they jumped.
The air ripped past them. The ice came fast. They hit the water like stones. Cold swallowed them whole.
Kael surfaced first, gasping. Elira emerged seconds later, her lips blue but her eyes alive.
They swam toward a cave nestled in the rock face. Hidden. Forgotten.
Inside, darkness. But Kael knew this place. He'd found it when he was a boy. A place his mother had shown him before they came for her.
He lit a torch from the emergency flint buried in the wall. The small flame danced across stone and memory.
Elira collapsed beside him, shivering. He removed his soaked cloak and threw it over her. She looked at him in surprise.
"Didn't peg you for the noble type."
"I'm not. I just hate seeing people freeze to death in front of me."
She gave a weak smile. "How kind."
They sat in silence, breath fogging the air. Outside, howls still echoed, but farther now. They'd bought time.
Kael looked at her. "You said you ran with them. The hunters."
Elira nodded slowly. "Until I refused an order."
"What order?"
"To kill you."
Kael stared.
"They knew where you were weeks ago. I was sent to watch you. Track your strength. Your loyalties. Your weakness."
"And?"
"I found something worse than weakness."
"What?"
Her eyes locked with his.
"Hope."
Kael didn't speak. Couldn't.
Elira leaned back against the stone, her voice softer now. "They want you dead before the Crimson Moon rises. Before your blood does what theirs never could."
Kael closed his eyes. The mark on his back burned hotter.
"There's more to this," he said. "My mother, she told me I was cursed. But never why. Never how."
Elira reached into her cloak. Pulled out a small vial. Red liquid glowed inside.
"This is why."
Kael took it. The blood inside shimmered with something unnatural. Magic. Rage. Memory.
"That's not mine."
"No," Elira said. "It's hers. Seraphine's."
Kael's chest tightened. "Where did you get this?"
"From the vault under Castle Umbra. The Queen kept pieces of herself hidden. For you."
Kael looked at the vial. Then at the flame. Then at Elira.
He was tired of running.
Tired of not knowing.
"Tell me everything," he said. "From the beginning."
Elira nodded. And began to speak.
Outside, the howls quieted.
But the hunt was far from over.