KAEL

I stood at the forest edge through the entire night watching the darkness between those cursed trees and trying not to imagine what Lyra was facing inside. Sleep had been impossible, every time I closed my eyes I saw her walking into the Shadow Woods alone while creatures that shouldn't exist waited in the darkness.

Riven stood on the opposite side of the clearing entrance, neither of us acknowledging the other's presence but both clearly there for the same reason. We hadn't spoken since ...