Chapter 34. The Failure of Freedom

Time folded in on itself, bleeding into a gray, endless blur of motion. Ismeria ran, her silver wolf’s paws striking the earth with relentless rhythm, pushing through the cold mountain air. The world existed only in the loping gait of the wolf, in the wind that tore through the trees around them. She had claimed their shared form entirely, moving with wild purpose, tireless and unyielding, celebrating the intoxicating taste of freedom she had fought so hard to possess.

But the joy was already curdling.

Mira was gone. She had severed the last fragile thread between them, not as an act of defiance against the wolf, but as an end to the struggle—a desperate, terrifying self-sacrifice to protect Kaelen from the curse she feared she embodied.

Ismeria ran, but she felt hollow. The burn of her muscles was not the thrill she craved, but a desolate ache. She felt the emptiness that had once been Mira’s soul now echoing in her own. She stopped, legs trembling slightly.