_Kael’s POV_
The forest thinned but the air didn’t get lighter.
If anything, it grew heavier.
I could feel the magic pressing against my skin. It was crawling over my arms like a thousand tiny claws. My wolf bristled beneath my skin. Valric’s growl rumbled inside me.
We stepped out from the trees and the ruins rose before us.
The fortress was massive, even broken by time. Towering walls of blackened stone loomed high above us. Jagged cracks ran through the masonry, and vines as thick as my arm coiled over them like snakes. The air smelled of old dust, rot, and something darker....like burnt iron and death.
Several of the towers were nothing but hollow shells. Their tops were shattered as if something had clawed its way out. But others still stood tall. Their narrow windows were glow
