The damp air pressed against Taryn's skin, the weight of the prior night's chaos still palpable in the back of her mind. Her cloak swished lightly against the underbrush as she pushed forward, her gaze darting between the narrow path ahead and the shadowed trees. Kah'el followed behind her, his footsteps soundless but deliberate.
The silence stretched on, broken only by the occasional creak of branches or the faint chirrup of distant birds. Finally, he spoke, his voice low. "You're scanning like something's about to pounce."
"Maybe there is," she replied curtly, her eyes not leaving the tree line.
His lips twitched, not quite a smirk. "You think the forest waited all night for us?"
She slowed, turning just enough to catch the glint in his green eyes. "We didn't exactly leave it much choice, did we?" Her tone was clipped, but beneath it lay an unspoken edge, a thread of doubt she wouldn't voice.
