The night had swallowed the world whole.
The mist coiled like pale snakes across the forest floor, creeping through the twisted trees, shrouding the jagged rocks, muffling every sound. Xavier crouched low on a ridge, his breath a ghost in the cold air. His golden eyes glimmered faintly in the dark, fixed on the silhouette of the ancient fortress below. Stone towers jutted like broken teeth into the night sky, their sharp spires veiled in moonlight.
He clenched his fists, feeling the pulse of adrenaline racing beneath his skin. This was it, the moment to strike. The moment to tear through centuries of fear and reclaim what the queen had stolen.
A presence shifted beside him. Jonah.
