The forest pressed in around them, quiet in a way that wasn't natural. Not peaceful, just… expectant. Like even the trees were listening.
Leira walked ahead, not bothering to hide the irritation steaming off her. Her boot snapped through the layer of leaves carpeting the path, each step sharper than it needed to be. She didn't look back at the man behind her. Didn't need to. She could feel his stare on her spine like a weight, it was annoying, heavy, persistent.
Cassian wasn't talking. That alone made her uncomfortable.
From what she remembered about Cassian in former lives, he loved the sound of his own voice and for someone like that, silence was never a good sign.
Leira pushed a low branch aside, its needles brushing her cheek. She hated the forest. Hated how it made everything feel smaller and larger at the same time, and honestly, she was a little traumatised by the echoes she had recently finished. It was like she was walking into a throat that would swallow her if she stopped paying attention for even one breath.
Cassian had been unusually obedient since she threatened him earlier. She didn't trust the compliance. Cassian only behaved when he was bored or buying time.
Leira kept moving, her steps steady, her jaw tight.
He followed a few paces behind, boots crunching gently over the underbrush. But still no comments. No dramatic sighs. No unnecessary flirting like he would do before. No Cassian-isms at all. In past lives, he had a sort of arrogant charm to him that he always had, that's one of the things she both loved and hated about him, but it didn't matter to her now because she believed her falling for him all those times was some kind of spell…or compulsion…or something, just nothing real.
She hated that it unnerved her. She hated that his silence felt heavier than his words.
Finally, she glanced over her shoulder.
Cassian walked with his hands behind his back, hoodie…no, cloak…stirring lightly with each step. His expression was neutral. Too neutral. Like he was carefully holding himself in place.
His eyes weren't on her, they were still scanning the forest, slow, alert.
She frowned.
"What are you doing?"
He didn't answer immediately. For Cassian, that was nearly unheard of.
"Making sure you don't trip over your own pride," he finally said, tone light, but it lacked its usual bite.
She clicked her tongue. "There he is…you're still the same egotistical person you always were…and please, you can save the commentary."
He smirked a little, but even that felt forced.
"Believe me, I'd love to. It's you who keeps looking back."
"I'm checking to make sure you're not planning anything."
"I'll let you know when I am," he replied.
She didn't dignify that with a response.
The woods thickened overhead until the light dimmed into a twilight that shouldn't have been possible at this hour. Roots curled like fingers across the path. Moss climbed up trunks like veins.
Leira's breathing settled into a rhythm, inhale, exhale, step. She kept her senses open, her Veil energy simmering beneath her skin, ready to flare the moment something felt wrong.
And something did feel wrong.
Not danger. Not presence.
Just… attention.
Like the forest itself had tilted its head.
Leira slowed slightly, not enough to appear cautious, just enough to alert her power.
Cassian noticed. He always noticed.
"Relax," he said behind her, voice smoother now. Too smooth. "Not every tree is trying to kill you."
"Stop talking to me, okay? I never said it was."
"You didn't have to." He squinted ahead. "You're coiled tighter than…"
He didn't finish. Because the forest moved.
Not the trees…no. The silence snapped.
SNAP.
Something slammed around her ankle, dragging her off balance so violently she didn't even have time to curse. The ground punched the air from her lungs as she hit the forest floor.
Her vision sparked white. Pain shot up her leg, a sharp, vicious clamp gripping bone. A trap. A heavy one.
She hissed through her teeth. "What the…"
"Leira!"
Cassian's voice cracked through the air, different this time. Not sarcastic. Not calm.
Panicked. Actually very panicked.
He dropped to a knee beside her so quickly she barely saw him move.
"Stop…stop moving," he said sharply, hands hovering over the metal. "You'll make it worse…just…just hold still…"
She stared at him, disoriented. Not because of the pain. Because he looked…
Terrified.
Not of the trap.
Of her being in it.
The realization made something cold unfurl in her stomach.
Cassian never showed real emotion before. Not unless it was filtered through sarcasm or wrapped in arrogance. The only times she had seen him really emotional was when he was back at the temple and he needed her help, also when he apologized, other than that, nothing. But right now…right here…
His face was pale. His breathing shallow. His eyes wide with something dangerously close to fear.
"…Cassian?" she managed, voice tight.
"Don't talk," he said, jaw clenched. "Just…give me a second…"
He reached for the metal, then pulled back as if afraid to touch it, afraid it would tighten.
"Cassian," she said more firmly, the pain spiking. "Move."
His head snapped up, eyes locking onto hers.
She didn't ask again.
A low hum rippled under her skin, spreading through her limbs like warm electricity. The Veil energy, her loyal companion, unfurled eagerly, responding to her command.
The trap tightened once more, squeezing hard enough to make her vision blur.
That was a mistake…for the trap.
Her power surged.
CRACK.
The metal exploded outward in a burst of force, shards scattering across the path. The recoil hit the ground like pressure breaking underwater.
Silence followed.
Leira exhaled shakily, pushing herself upright. Her ankle throbbed, but the Veil had absorbed most of the damage. The forest air tasted sharp, electrified from the blast.
Cassian didn't move.
He just stared at her.
And in his eyes, just for a moment, she saw the raw truth.
Relief.
And beneath that…
Fear. Fear for her.
She caught it. Caught it clearly. And she saw the exact second he realized she'd seen it.
Cassian inhaled slowly… and put his mask back on. It was almost impressive, the way he smothered his own emotions. Like he'd been trained to do it, technically he was. He was molded to bury everything deeper than anyone could reach,
By the time he spoke again, his usual smirk had returned, crooked, lazy, too practiced.
"Well," he said lightly, "that was dramatic."
Leira wiped dirt from her palms. "Shut up."
He blinked, caught off guard by her tone.
"What? That wasn't me. I mean…" he gestured vaguely at the destroyed trap, "…I'll admit it was effective, but even I'm not that theatrical."
She rolled her eyes, but her jaw tightened.
Cassian didn't notice, until he kept talking.
"If I wanted to trap you," he added with a half grin, "you wouldn't have time to react."
Her nostrils flared. She turned her head toward him slowly, like her patience was a thread stretched thin.
"Do you think that's funny?" she said. "Do you think any of this is a joke?"
His smirk slipped, just a fraction.
"You do realize you have actually murdered me before," she continued, voice low, clipped. "Multiple times, I might add."
His face changed. Not dramatically. Not with guilt or shame, Cassian wasn't built that way, but with something quieter. Something like a crack forming.
"Look, I…"
She cut him off.
"Is it easier to laugh at the fact that you're a monster? Does it help you cope with how far you've fallen?"
That one hit.
Hard.
Cassian froze for half a second, just enough that anyone else would've missed it. But Leira didn't. She always noticed the fractures in him. The ones he tried so desperately to hide.
She turned and started walking again, not waiting for him.
A long breath left him. He scrubbed a hand over his face, then lowered it slowly, expression unreadable.
He followed her.
"As a matter of fact…" he whispered to himself, voice too soft, too real, "…yes."
For hours, she ignored him. She did not look back once.
She only muttered under her breath, complaining, insulting, cursing the miserable fate that stuck her with him of all people.
But no matter how hard she tried, her mind kept replaying the moment earlier.
Cassian's face when the trap snapped shut around her.
The panic he failed to hide.
She shoved the memory away and kept walking.
Crunch.
Crunch.
Crunch.
Cassian followed behind her, but unlike earlier, he wasn't speaking.
Not mocking.
Not smirking.
Not pretending he didn't care.
The sarcasm he clung to so tightly had vanished, leaving only the quiet he usually avoided.
After a long stretch of silence, Leira glanced over her shoulder.
Cassian was adjusting his cloak, pulling it tight around himself.
But his left hand…
It stayed buried deep in the folds of fabric.
Hiding…shaking.
He realized she was watching him. For a brief moment, a small fragile heartbeat, something unguarded crossed his face. It wasn't vulnerability or guilt. It was closer to a warning. A glimpse of something he didn't want her to see.
Then the mask snapped back into place. His lips curved into a lazy, flirtatious smirk.
Leira rolled her eyes and turned forward again, but the tension in her shoulders did not ease.
Behind her, she could still sense that something was going on with him, but Leira refused to ask.
She refused to speak. She just kept walking, breath tight in her chest, the Veil whispering cold energy across her skin.
They were close now.
The path to the Ritual Ground was unmistakable. The air felt heavier and thicker, ancient in a way that pressed against her skin. She knew this place, though she hadn't been back here since…Ari.
And when she took one final glance at Cassian, she froze.
Because she saw it in his eyes.
Fear.
Not fear of her.
Not fear for her.
Something far darker...disturbing.
Something he knew well.
Leira's pulse quickened and the thought:
What could possibly make the Shadow General afraid…?