Malrik POV

I crouched low behind a boulder slick with moss, my gaze cutting through the shadow-drenched treeline. Pine and damp earth clung to the air but beneath it threaded something sharper, unnatural. It wasn’t memory that warned me. It was instinct.

Something was wrong.

Tavian crouched beside me, hulking and still, every muscle coiled like a spring. We didn’t speak. We didn’t have to. Behind us, five of my best warriors waited in silence, weapons steady, eyes locked on the ...