Luna Everleigh's POV
***
The forest stretched before us like an uncharted abyss, cloaked in silver mist beneath the pale moonlight. Twisted branches clawed at the sky, their skeletal forms whispering secrets to the wind.
We had no choice but to move quickly.
If we didn't get to the Moonlit Relic before Morganna or the Silver Fang Society, everything would be lost.
Rhydian led the way, his movements swift and precise, his golden eyes sharp with focus. I followed closely behind, my senses heightened in a way that both thrilled and unsettled me. Every rustle of leaves, every shift in the wind felt amplified, as if my body was attuned to something I couldn't yet understand.
"We should reach the ruins by dawn," Kael muttered from behind me. "If the information is correct, the relic should be buried beneath the old temple."
His voice was skeptical, but there was something different in the way he looked at me now. A flicker of something that hadn't been there before—trust.
A week ago, he wouldn't have hesitated to leave me behind. Now, he was watching my back.
Progress.
Rhydian suddenly slowed, glancing over his shoulder. "Stay close," he murmured, his voice low and unreadable.
I arched a brow. "I wasn't planning on wandering off."
His lips twitched slightly—almost a smile—but the tension in his shoulders remained.
He had been on edge since we left the stronghold. Not just because of the danger ahead, but because of something else.
Something he wasn't telling me.
I had felt it in the way his fingers lingered a second too long when he touched me, in the way his gaze darkened whenever I spoke of my past.
He was keeping something from me.
And I was beginning to think it had to do with us.
—
To be continued...