The mist thickened as they entered the Hollow Pass.
Kaela's horse shifted uneasily beneath her, ears twitching. The trees here were older, twisted, their branches clawing at the sky like broken fingers. Fog clung to the ground, swallowing sound. Even the birds had gone silent.
She scanned the shadows, hand resting on her sword. "Stay close," she said.
Aric — no, Arion, though she didn't know it yet — nodded, reins steady in his hands. "I wasn't planning on wandering."
They rode in silence until Kaela's horse stopped dead. She felt it too — the shift in the air. A low growl echoed through the mist.
"Dismount," she whispered.
Arion obeyed without question.
The growl came again, closer. Then another. And another.
Kaela drew her blade. "Mistfangs," she said. "Pack hunters. They wait until you're surrounded."
Arion stepped beside her, calm despite the tension. "How many?"
"Too many."
Shapes moved in the fog — sleek, low to the ground, eyes glowing faintly. The first lunged.
Kaela met it mid-air, blade flashing, slicing through fur and bone. Another came from the side. Arion grabbed a fallen branch and struck it clean across the jaw, sending it skidding.
"You fight well," she said, breathless.
"I read a lot of combat theory," he replied dryly.
More came. Kaela fought like fire — fast, brutal, precise. Arion moved like shadow — quiet, strategic, always watching her back. When she stumbled, he caught her. When he faltered, she covered him.
They moved as one.
The last Mistfang snarled, circling. Kaela raised her sword, but her arm trembled. Arion stepped forward, eyes locked on the creature.
"Wait," he said.
He knelt, whispering something in a language Kaela didn't recognize. The Mistfang paused… then backed away, disappearing into the fog.
Kaela stared at him. "What was that?"
"Old tongue," he said. "They understand it. Sometimes."
She didn't ask how he knew that. She didn't want to admit how much she wanted to know.
The mist began to lift. The forest was quiet again.
Kaela sheathed her blade. "You're not a scholar."
Arion met her gaze. "No."
She didn't press. Not yet.
But something had shifted.
They had fought together. Bled together. Survived together.
And Kaela knew, deep down, that whatever he was hiding…
it was only a matter of time before it came to light.