Chapter 140

Maren

The quiet after violence is worse than the violence itself.

It presses in too close, like the world is waiting for me to make a mistake. The forest hasn’t fully settled yet—the leyline still hums under my feet, low and uneasy, like a deep breath held too long. Kaelen stands a few paces away, giving me space but not distance, his attention fixed on me even when he pretends to scan the trees.