Aria sank naturally into a defensive posture, her mark searing hotly on her arm. You ought not to be here. You were sent exile.
Jaxon cocked his head, seeming to be wounded. Exiled, sure. Not overlooked, however. The forest has a way of reminding us of what we believed to have left behind.
She kept Luca's words ringing in her head: follow her intuition. But every sense said Jaxon's arrival was a trap, a test from the jungle itself.
Jaxon's voice low and deadly, he circled her like a cat hunting prey. "Does the prophecy tell you everything? It does not. It ignores the unsavoury aspects, including the sacrifices it calls upon.
Aria refused to let him see her dread; she kept her eyes fixed. "I need you not to interpret the prophecy for me. I will meet whatever the forest calls for. He laughed slightly in gloomy tones. Oh, you're courageous. I will forward it to you. But when the people you must rely on turn on you, courage will not rescue you.
