Selene‘s pov.

The forest felt colder tonight, as if the moon itself had chosen to turn its back on me. I walked beside Arius, though "beside" was a generous word. There was a space between us filled with silence, tension, and a strange unease that I couldn’t shake. We had fought together before, under Alaric’s banner, but even then, I had felt it—Arius was never loyal to him. No, Arius had always played his own game. Alaric was merely a pawn he needed at the time.

Now, ...