The wind was sharp this morning. Kaelen tugged the scarf higher across his mouth as the forest began to thin, giving way to jagged hills and winding stone paths. The capital wasn't visible yet, but he could feel it pressing against the horizon—a presence more than a place.
He didn't speak much. Neither did Selene.
Not after what happened last night.
She walked a few paces ahead, her pale cloak catching on brambles and the occasional wildthorn. Her staff hung loosely in her right hand, glowing faintly along the carved runes. She hadn't slept—not that Kaelen had either.
Too many questions.
Too many shadows dancing just behind the silence.
He kept thinking about the way the Pyreling had died.
The moment his hand touched it, the mark had reacted—no spell, no incantation, just raw, instinctive force. Like Veritas itself had lashed out.
Selene had stared at him for what felt like minutes afterward. Not with fear—but something worse.
Calculation.
"You should've told me." Her voice finally broke the quiet. It wasn't angry. Not anymore.
"Told you what?" Kaelen muttered, hands shoved deep into his coat. "That I've got a mindmark that sings to ghosts and eats monsters alive?"
She stopped walking.
Turned.
Their eyes met in the dim forest light. Hers were a shade of violet that reminded him of cold twilight—not cruel, but unreadable.
"Yes," she said. "Exactly that."
He looked away. "Didn't think it would matter."
"It always matters. Especially here."
They sat by a small stream when midday came, eating what little they'd scavenged—dried bread, smoked root, and bitter berries Kaelen still wasn't sure were edible.
Selene didn't eat.
Instead, she drew symbols in the dirt with her finger. Faint sigils, barely visible. Kaelen recognized some—standard Flame-tier glyphs.
But the others?
They twisted strangely. Like they bent language.
"You're not like the others," she said, voice low. "The mark on your arm… it's not Ember-class. It's not even Tower script. I've never seen it before."
Kaelen leaned forward, curious despite himself. "Then how do you know it's dangerous?"
Selene glanced at him. "Because things we don't understand usually are."
For the first time since they'd met, Kaelen noticed the faint scar on her collarbone. It looked old—deliberate.
He hesitated before asking.
"What did they do to you? In the Tower?"
She didn't answer right away.
Instead, she stared at the stream. "They taught me how to lie with magic," she said finally. "How to wear obedience like a cloak. And how to kill without guilt."
Kaelen felt the air between them change.
Not colder. Just… closer.
"I don't like owing people," she continued, quieter now. "But you saved me. Twice."
Kaelen gave a crooked grin. "Don't get used to it. I'm not much of a hero."
"No," she said. "You're worse. You're something that's not supposed to exist."
That night, the forest gave way to stone.
Ancient stone, shaped into half-buried stairs and moss-covered arches. The ruins of an old outpost—older than the Tower, by the look of it.
They made camp inside the shell of what had once been a watchtower.
It was just walls now, and broken sigil plates scattered across the floor.
Kaelen traced one of them absently.
A symbol he almost recognized.
Not Veritas. Not quite. But close.
He was still staring when Selene sat down beside him.
"You're not afraid of what's inside you," she said softly.
He glanced up.
"Should I be?"
"Yes."
Kaelen was quiet for a moment.
"I think… it's always been there. Waiting. Like I've been asleep my whole life, and now I can't go back to dreaming."
Selene didn't reply.
But she didn't pull away when he sat beside her, either.
The fire crackled between them, soft and warm.
For the first time, they weren't soldier and fugitive. Not mage and mystery.
Just two people caught in the space between silence and something else.
"Why do you help me?" Kaelen asked finally.
Selene's gaze didn't waver.
"Because I saw the way you looked at the ruins. Like they mattered. Like they hurt."
Kaelen swallowed.
"They do."
And for a heartbeat—
Just one—
He thought she might reach out.
Say something real.
But instead, she stood.
"Get some rest," she said. "We'll reach the Capital by tomorrow night."
Then she walked away, cloak fluttering behind her like a warning.
Kaelen lay awake long after the fire dimmed.
He didn't dream that night.
But he remembered everything.