Caged by the Wolf King
"I've had enough of this place."
---
The journey back to the Dominion took three days.
They traveled with a small company—Sera, a dozen warriors, and the supplies they had taken from Shadowfang. Elara rode beside Kaelen, her horse steady beneath her. The forest was waking from winter, the first green shoots pushing through the melting snow.
She did not speak. She could not. But she listened.
The whispers had not stopped.
They were louder now, clearer. They spoke of things she did not understand—old magic, ancient wars, a queen who had worn a crown of bones. They spoke of a power that had been waiting for her, sleeping in her blood, biding its time.