The land changed the farther east they rode.Stone gave way to ash-colored soil, brittle and cracked as though the earth itself had once been burned and never forgiven for surviving. The sky dulled here, clouds hanging low and heavy, pressing down on the horizon like a held breath.Selene felt it immediately.Not pain. Not threat.Recognition.Her spine prickled as if invisible fingers traced old scars she didn’t remember earning. The Axis stirred, not violently, but with a low, uneasy awareness. This place remembered power. Remembered being used.Rowan rode at her left, posture rigid, eyes constantly scanning. He hadn’t relaxed once since they crossed into the badlands. Even now, with no enemy in sight, his hand hovered near the hilt of his sword, muscles coiled beneath his armor like a restrained animal.Lucien followed slightly behind, expression deceptively calm, gaze drifting not over the land but through it, as though he were reading something
Last Updated : 2026-01-25 Read more