Chapter 84

• SELENE
• The run felt wild and bright.
• Breath burned in my lungs, sharp and clean, each pull of air tasting of pine, damp bark, and the faint mineral bite that always lingered in Blackroot Forest. Leaves flashed past in green and gold blurs as the paths curved and dipped, roots lifting like hidden ribs beneath the soil. The Ashen Dominion lands looked calm and open, sunlight spilling through the canopy in gentle ribbons, and that calm settled over me, easing something knotted deep inside my chest.