The clearing was quiet except for the soft crackle of our makeshift campfire. Snow fell in slow drifting flakes, hissing faintly as they landed on the heated stones Soren had placed around the firepit. The night felt heavy, thick with the weight of what we had escaped and what we had brought out of the cavern.
The girl lay on a bed of blankets near the fire. Her small body barely took up any space. Her white dress was still damp from the cavern fog, now clinging to her thin frame. Her chest rose and fell in shallow, stuttering breaths.
I sat beside her, unable to look away for more than a moment. Every time her breath caught or wavered, my entire body went tense. Talon sat close behind me, one hand resting over my shoulder blade in a steadying pressure that anchored me to the ground.
So
