Chapter 52: Before The Fury

The night stretched on, thick with the whispers of the forest. 

The quiet crackle of their fire was the only sound breaking the stillness.

 Emily sat with her back against a large oak tree, the warmth of the fire brushing against her skin, yet the chill of dread lingered beneath her ribs. 

She had always been a fighter, but tonight, something gnawed at her, a quiet voice whispering that this next step would not be like the others.

Damien had grown distant, his gaze fixed on the horizon, as though waiting for something to materialize out of the night. 

Emily had long learned to read him—the sharp angles of his jaw when he was brooding, the tense set of his shoulders when he was thinking.

 But tonight, there was something else in his eyes. A weariness she hadn't seen before.