Leah
His grip was firm but gentle. He led me down the path toward the village, and I noticed the way people reacted to his presence as we passed. A woman hanging laundry from a line between two buildings paused, dipped her chin in a subtle bow, then returned to her work. A group of men sitting around a wooden table playing some kind of game with carved stones glanced up, nodded with quiet deference, then resumed their match.
They knew him. Respected him. Feared him, maybe, in the way one fears a force of nature. Not with terror, but with the understanding that here was something powerful enough to warrant careful attention.
“There are many layers to the death world,” Noxx said as we walked, his hand still holding mine with an easy familiarity that should have felt presumptuous but didn'
