The silence between them was no longer empty.
It crackled with tension, humming beneath the surface like thunder waiting to strike. After the Oracle's vision, the descent from the temple was painfully quiet. No one spoke of the choice laid before them. No one dared.
But the bond between Aria and the triplets was no longer whole.
It trembled with each breath.
Each glance.
Each heartbeat.
The moment their boots met the frozen ground of the valley again, Aria felt it — a thread in the bond… fraying.
Like someone had plucked a string on a harp and left it ringing wrong.
She touched her chest as if to quiet it. It didn't help.
They camped in a narrow hollow shielded by ice-thorn trees and boulders blackened by centuries of wind. Dorian and Elara took the first watch, eyes vigilant but haunted. Aria sat by the fire, staring into the flames that licked toward the stars.
Tobias crouched beside her, silent for a long time. Then he said, voice rough, "I'll do it."
