Chapter 38. Dagger Between Us

He came without a banner. Without a guard. Without a sound.

Kael slipped through Thornroot’s outer wall like a living shadow draped in old regrets. The gnarled oaks shivered under his passing, their knotted limbs reaching out as if to cradle him—or warn him away. Beyond them, moss-draped watchtowers loomed: skeletal sentries with crossbows trained, eyes sharp enough to fell him. Yet he carried no trumpet’s herald, no drawn sword—only the weight of everything he’d lived through. At the gate he paused, hood fallen back so that the pale calm of his face showed under the dim lantern glow. His eyes were open, unflinching.

Ryker wasted no second. A silver blade slid free; its tip found Kael’s throat in a whisper of steel.

Aeryn arrived before a breath passed. Barefoot, silent, she stepped from the shadowed trees into the lantern light. Moss-lanterns hung from low branches like drifting orbs, their emerald flames flickering over her skin. She carried no weapon—only the ce