Chapter 103

Maren

The fire had burned down to coals, soft blue light flickering in the hollow between the stones.

The forest held its breath. Even the spring nearby seemed to listen, its surface unbroken, reflecting the faint shimmer of the leyline beneath.

I couldn’t sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, the pulse of the earth came back — steady, low, and wrong. It matched the rhythm of my own heartbeat too pe