Chapter 122

Maren

Kaelen’s arms are wrapped around me, warm and fierce, his heartbeat pounding through his chest like a war drum.

“He’s coming,” I whisper.

“Let him,” he murmurs into my hair, voice hard. “We won’t be caught unprepared.”

But the moment he says it, the lake behind us ripples—

not from wind,

not from Zarek’s distant fury,

but from something older.

Something watching.

Something waiting.

My siren