The forest did not feel empty anymore. It felt watched.
Not in the immediate, suffocating way Kael's presence had filled the space, nor in the calculated stillness Adrian carried like a shadow. This was something more distant, more patient, as if the world itself had started paying attention.
Elara walked beside Rowan without speaking at first, her senses stretched wider than before, catching things she would have missed only days ago. The shift still unsettled her, not because it felt wrong, but because it felt… permanent.
Whatever had awakened inside her wasn't going back to sleep. Rowan didn't rush her. He stayed slightly ahead at times, then beside her again, adjusting without drawing attention to it, as though he had already adapted to her pace without needing to ask.
That alone said more than anything he had spoken.
Elara let out a quiet breath.
"I need to tell you something," she said.
Rowan didn't stop walking.
"Then tell me," he replied.
