AURORAThe air suddenly felt like poison and the atmosphere was so tense, it could be cut with a knife. It slammed into the Ashen Pass like an invisible wall, thick and suffocating, pressing against my chest until it felt like breathing itself had become a struggle.Malrik’s presence filled the canyon as every instinct inside me screamed of danger. Yet no one moved. Not the envoys, not his sons, and not even me. Even the horses seemed to have gone still, their bodies trembling beneath us, ears flattened against their heads. Malrik stood at the entrance of the pass as if he owned it, acting as if the mountain answered to him. His dark cloak shifted slightly with the faint breeze, and his eyes—those cold, calculating eyes—remained fixed on me.“The challenger,” he repeated softly.The word echoed through the stone walls. Behind him, his elite wolves spread out just enough to block the exit, their expressions sharp and watchful.They didn’t need to move closer. Malrik alone was enoug
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