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CHAPTER 94

Author: CagalieYula
last update Last Updated: 2025-10-21 21:03:00

The world fractured into two parallel, desperate races. Borin and his warriors became a grim, determined caravan, carefully loading Kairi’s unconscious form onto a litter, their pace set by the fragility of the life they carried. I watched them until they were specks on the path toward the Citadel, my own heart a piece of torn parchment leaving with them.

Then I turned. Anya stood before me, a handful of her best hunters at her back. Their faces were not the open, curious ones I’d first encountered, but the hard, flinty masks of warriors whose peace had been irrevocably broken. They knew the land. They were my only chance.

Elisse was safe, for now, hidden deep within the village, surrounded by the entire clan. Saying goodbye to her had been a fresh amputation. Her small, trusting face, so recently reconciled with the world, was once again clouded with a fear I had put there. I had promised her I would return. I prayed it wasn’t another lie.

“The old watchtower,” Anya said, her voice a
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