Kael and Darius arrived at the hidden outpost just as the last traces of Elias and Sienna's presence faded into the cold night air. The place was eerily quiet, the kind of silence that felt wrong, that prickled against the skin like an unspoken warning. Darius was the first to dismount, his boots crunching against the gravel as his eyes scanned the abandoned clearing.
"We're too late," he muttered, jaw tightening. "They're gone."
Kael cursed under his breath, running a hand through his dark, wind-tousled hair. He had known they were cutting it close, but he hadn't expected this. The thought of Elias taking Sienna to the High Council, of them deciding her fate without interference, twisted something sharp inside him.
"There's no sign of a struggle," Kael noted, eyes narrowing as he crouched near the extinguished campfire. "No blood, no tracks leading away in haste. Elias took her willingly."
