บททั้งหมดของ Across Lifetimes, Still Yours : บทที่ 41 - บทที่ 46

Even from a distance, Halden’s posture was unmistakable: patient, methodical, a hunter waiting for prey to move.He hadn’t found the cave.Not yet.Cris exhaled slowly. “We need to move before dawn.”Leo nodded. “And if he corners us?”“Then we don’t let him take you,” Cris said. “No matter what it costs.”Leo touched Cris’s cheek briefly, grounding them both. “We’re not dying on this mountain.”Cris nodded once. Determined. Steady.Halden turned abruptly, heading down the ridge with the confidence of a man who believed the chase would end soon.Because to him, it would.Cris whispered, “Tomorrow, we run.”Leo squeezed his hand.“Tomorrow,” he echoed.The cave fell silent again - but the world outside had shifted.There was no forest now.No kingdom.No prophecy.Only the hunter.And the two men fate kept trying to separate.The forest changed the farther they moved south - thicker, darker, swollen with roots that curled like sleeping creatures. By dawn, Leo and Cris had crossed into

Snow swirls around them as Cris and Leo sprint downhill from the monastery, their boots skidding on loosened gravel and frost. The morning light is thin, the kind that makes shadows seem longer and the world feel half-awake, half-haunted.Behind them, Halden’s roar tears through the sky again… closer, angrier, impossibly loud.Cris doesn’t look back. He doesn’t dare.Leo keeps pace beside him, breath harsh, but his grip is steady and anchored. “The ridge,” he pants. “If we reach the ridge, we can cut toward the river flats and disappear.”Cris nods, chest burning. “The temple is east. If we follow the river—”Another crash reverberates through the mountains. A flock of crows launches into the air, startled into ragged flight.Cris winces. “We don’t have long.”Leo glances sideways. “You’re bleeding again.”“Then I’ll stop later. When we’re not being hunted by a nightmare.”Leo huffs a breath that might’ve been a laugh if the situation weren’t spiraling. “Fair enough.”They keep runnin

Snow-dust shook off from the branches like thrown flour. Leo pressed his shoulder into the stone, every muscle wound tight. Cris crouched beside him, jaw working, fingers white on the earth. Lori’s boot was barely visible in the gloom, toes hooked against a root to stop her from sliding further down the slope.Boots sounded above them – too many, too purposeful. Halden’s patrol, moving like a blade through the woods.“Spread out,” Halden’s voice ordered from somewhere on the ridge. “They couldn’t have gone far.”Leo felt the sound reverberate through his bones. He swallowed, trying to force his breath into a steady rhythm. The three of them curled narrower into the hollow, leaves scratching at their faces. If Halden saw even a flash of movement—A soldier’s boot scraped a branch a foot away. Leo could see the dried mud on its toe.Cris squeezed Leo’s hand until his fingers ached. “Don’t breathe,” Lori mouthed, though her eyes were wide as flint.The patrol passed like a tide. Orderly