The walk back to the castle was drenched in silence, not the peaceful kind, but the heavy kind, deafening silence that settled between people when too much had been left unsaid.
Every crunch of leaves beneath our shoess felt like thunder agaicnst the stillness.
No one dared speak.
No one dared breathe too loud.
My hands were still shaking.
I tried to hide them in the pockets of my hoodie jacket, but it didn't stop trembling.
The hum of the cave still clung to myh skin like smoke, it felt so alive, pulsing, ancient symbols burning behind my eyes like afterimages. Every step I took away from that place felt wrong. Like I was walking away from something sacred.
Something mine.
Something stolen.
Ava walked ahead of us, her back rigid, her posture tight like a drawn bow ready to snap.
Her silence wasn't just cold, it was cutting. I didn't need a bond to feel the storm radiating off her. Every step Ava took was filled with judgment.
Fury and Fear.
