CHAPTER 71

The world had lost its color. The majestic, snow-capped peaks of the Ironpeak range were just grey shapes against a washed-out sky. The wind, which had once felt bracing, now held only a biting, cruel edge. Every step I took was a mechanical act, my body moving while my soul remained trapped in that dark fissure, listening to the fading echo of Kairi’s breath.

Elisse’s small hand was a cold, limp weight in mine. She hadn’t spoken since we’d left the chimney, her silence a deeper wound than any cry. She just walked, her eyes vacant, staring at the ground. She had seen the terror on my face. She had heard the finality in Kelra’s silence. She knew.

Kelra walked ahead, a solitary, grim sentinel. His shoulders were set in a rigid line, his usual confident stride replaced by a heavy, plodding gait. He had lost two of his best fighters, and now he had helped leave his Alpha to die in the dark. The weight of it was crushing him, too.

We walked for hours, the silence between us a third, grievi