Chapter 46. Marked by the Forgotten

The clearing wasn’t a clearing at all.

It was a wound in the forest, where nothing grew. The ground was bare—earth compacted by centuries of something passing through, again and again, in silence. The trees at its edge leaned away, as if recoiling. Moonlight didn’t reach it. Not truly. It hung just above, trembling in the canopy, unwilling to touch the soil.

Aria stepped into it.

Her body didn’t want to. Something deeper than fear curled in her gut, whispering to turn back, to vanish between the trees, to become mist. But her legs moved forward. Her breath was tight in her ribs. Her eyes couldn’t look away.

It stood across from her.

Not a wolf.

Not a man.

Its shape was fluid—tall, too tall, with limbs that moved like they remembered different rules. Its fur was dark but not black, flecked with silver and something that shimmered between color and void. The silver eyes were brighter now, not glowing, not supernatural—reflective. As if it were