Melody.
The wind whipped across the open plains, its cool bite reminding me that the world out here was unforgiving. I pulled my cloak tighter around me, my fingers brushing over the fabric that had started to feel like armor. The weight of the situation pressed on me—this wasn't just a journey back to Julia, not anymore. This was a descent into something I wasn't sure I could stop. But there was no turning back now. My nerves were strung tighter than a bow, taught and ready to be fired.
Kael and Rowan walked beside me, silent but present. The vast expanse stretched out before us, the border between the safety we had left behind and the dark unknown ahead. The earth beneath our boots was firm, yet every step felt like we were inching closer to an inevitable collision. Two men, so close, but so very different all the same.