The forest was silent, unnaturally so.
Elara's golden aura dimmed to a low pulse around her, flickering in time with her heartbeat. Dust hung in the air like snowflakes caught in a shaft of light. No one dared to move.
Not even Caden.
She took a slow, trembling breath. Her legs wanted to give out beneath her, but the power wouldn't let her fall. It was holding her up. No—binding her in place. Her gaze flicked between the three men before her: Kael, tense and burning with fierce protectiveness; Riven, calm but coiled like a spring, his loyalty solid as stone; and Caden, whose hunger had only grown sharper, darker.
Her voice, when it came, felt like someone else's. "I didn't mean to do that."
No one answered.
