Chapter 35. Tether and Tension

The forest breathed around them as they walked, still and silvered in the late dusk, the hush between trees so complete it pressed against their ears like velvet. Beneath their feet, the moss-padded ground softened every footstep, muffling movement until it felt like they were walking in a dream neither of them had chosen to wake from. The air was cool but not cold, filled with the sharp scent of pine needles and the fading smoke of distant campfires.

Kaelen’s hand brushed hers now and again as they moved side by side—never demanding, never pulling, just a steady presence beside her, solid and grounding in a way that made it harder to stay inside her own tangled thoughts. Still, her mind churned, louder than the wind through the canopy, louder than the quiet crunch of their boots through leaves.

Eventually, the silence grew too heavy. Mira glanced sideways at him, then spoke—softly at first, her voice like a thread stretched thin but pulled taut with something unresolved