Chapter 104

Kaelen

The forest was still asleep when I woke.

Mist clung to the branches like cobwebs, and what little light filtered through the trees came from the ground instead of the sky. The blue veins beneath the soil pulsed faintly, rhythmic, steady — the same steady rhythm that thudded beneath my ribs.

For a moment, I thought the tremor had returned. Then I realized it wasn’t the earth I was hearing. I