Chapter 27 The Ashes Of Victory

Elena POV The forest feels like a tomb, the silence heavy, oppressive, pressing down on us as we stand in the aftermath. The air’s cold, sharp with pine and the faint tang of blood, but the black sludge is gone—dissolved, erased, like it never was. Fynn’s slumped in Morgan’s arms, her face pale, her eyes dull without that flicker of shadows I’d gotten used to. She’s alive, breathing, but she looks… smaller, fragile, and it twists something in my chest I don’t want to name.