Chapter 154

*Kaelen*

We left at dawn.

Or we were supposed to.

Valerius had already gathered what we needed—maps, scrolls, fragments of a gate path traced by old leyline routes and guessed history. Rowan had gone to prep the northern scouts, his jaw tense, his silence louder than orders. Varis stood just beyond the tree line, pacing like a caged thing, half-ready to kill and half-ready to shatter.

And I…

I cou