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Chapter 57 - The Ashen Choice

The journey back from the Ashen Marsh was shrouded in tension, not only from the warning the Nightbinder had given them but from the weight of possibility it had stirred. Every tree they passed, every whisper of the wind through the canopies felt charged, as if the forest itself had begun to listen.

Aria rode at the front, cloak fluttering behind her. The mark on her back pulsed faintly, no longer dormant, but steady as though it beat with its own heart. Kael rode beside her, his brow furrowed in thought, one hand loosely on his sword hilt. Behind them, the small contingent of soldiers maintained silence, sensing the storm that brewed not just outside, but within.

When they reached the fortress, the gate guards looked relieved but wary.

Jonah was waiting in the courtyard, his robes disheveled, eyes rimmed red.

"Something's happened," he said before Aria could dismount.

Her boots hit the ground with a thud. "What is it?"

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