No Safe Distance

The key turned once.Then stopped.Silence gathered on the other side of the door. Lydia could hear the muted scrape of boots, the shift of armor, the low murmur of men deciding whether they were brave enough to enter.Inside the chamber, Logan had gone still again.Not calm.Coiled.She stood between him and the door before she consciously chose to. The basin water dripped from the cloth in her hand. Blood still marked her fingers from tending his wounds.“Move,” he said quietly.“No.”“They are not here to speak.”“Neither am I.”The bond flared hot between them—irritation, warning, something darker beneath both. But it was steadier than before. Stronger. The longer she stood near him, the less violent the pressure became.That realization frightened her more than the men outside.The lock rattled again.Then the older guard’s voice came through the wood. “By order of His Majesty, open the door.”“No,” Lydia called back.A pause followed, as if no one had expected her answer.“My la

Dernière mise à jour : 2026-04-18

The Voice Below

The voice came again.Soft. Faint. Impossible.“Logan.”It rose from the darkness beneath the stairwell like breath from a grave.Neither of them moved.The guards who had moments ago pretended authority were already retreating down the corridor. One made the sign warding off evil as he backed away. The other did not bother hiding his fear.Lydia kept her eyes on the black stairwell. “Tell me that was a trick.”Logan said nothing.Through the bond she felt something she had never felt from him before.Shock.Not surprise. Not confusion.Shock so sharp it hollowed him out for one dangerous second.Then it was gone beneath iron control.He took the first step downward.Lydia followed.“I told you to stay behind me,” he said.“And I told you that depends on the quality of your orders.”Normally that would have earned her a cutting reply. Tonight, he only kept walking.The narrow stairs spiraled into colder air. Dust coated the stone. No servant had been here in years. The lamps fixed to

Dernière mise à jour : 2026-04-18

Woman in the Dark

The forest did not feel like part of the same world as the palace.There were no polished halls here. No guards pretending courage. No banners covering rot with silk. Only black trees, wet earth, and the cold bite of night pressing in from every side.Lydia stumbled over a root and caught herself on a low branch.Logan’s hand closed around her arm before she could fall.“Watch your footing.”“I would,” she said, breathless, “if you slowed down.”He released her at once, but not before the bond carried a pulse of irritation mixed with concern. It had become impossible to separate one from the other where he was concerned.Behind them, the palace lights were distant now—small and pale beyond the trees.Ahead, the cloaked woman moved without hesitation.She never looked back. She simply expected them to follow.Lydia hated that.“Who is she?” Lydia asked quietly.Logan’s jaw tightened. “I don’t know.”The answer came too fast.She looked at him sharply. “That was a lie.”He said nothing.

Dernière mise à jour : 2026-04-19

What knelt in the Dark

No one moved.The hunters remained on one knee with their heads bowed, as if the forest itself had ordered their bodies into submission. Their thin shoulders trembled. Their pale eyes fixed on the ground.Lydia’s breath caught in her throat.Predators did not kneel.Not unless something worse had arrived.The trees ahead began to sway though no wind touched them. Branches scraped together with a dry, whispering sound. The darkness between the trunks thickened until it looked less like shadow and more like something gathering shape.Elira stepped back.It was the first sign of fear Lydia had seen in her.“Run,” Elira said quietly.Logan did not move.The bond hit Lydia with a violent surge of recognition. Not memory exactly. Something older than memory. A dread so deep it felt inherited.The darkness advanced.It did not walk. It flowed.When it reached the clearing, it rose taller than any man, draped in shifting black that never settled into cloth or skin. Two eyes opened inside it—b

Dernière mise à jour : 2026-04-20

Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 11 - Chapitre 14

No Safe Distance

The Voice Below

Woman in the Dark

What knelt in the Dark