The silence between us stretched like a blade, thin and sharp. Each step we took through the mountain pass felt heavier than the last, the weight of the Codex pressing against me like an unseen force.
Cairon walked beside me, his presence steady, but I could feel it—his eyes flicking to me every so often, watching. Measuring.
I clenched my fists. The sensation of power still tingled at my fingertips, an echo of what had happened in the clearing. Back there, when the shadows had curled at my feet, when the Codex had pulsed in my grasp like it was finally acknowledging me, something had changed.
For the first time since waking in this body, I had felt... in control.
And I had liked it.
That thought unsettled me more than I wanted to admit.
Because it wasn't just satisfaction. It was something more. Something darker.
