The silence after Meret’s growl felt heavier than the sound itself.

Dust still hung in the air, curling in slow, lazy spirals like the clearing held its breath. The shattered remains of the human-shaped target lay scattered in jagged splinters across the dirt. Even the wind seemed to have stilled, as if the forest itself was watching.

Meret stayed on her knees, chest heaving, her hands pressed into the cold stone platform for balance. Her pulse roared in her ears, loud and insistent, drowning ...