[Host.]
I did not move.
[We have a problem.]
Yes. I answered in my mind, my gaze already shifting toward the direction the arrow had come from. My eyes scanned the trees, the shadows, the spaces between branches, but there was nothing there. No movement. No figure. Just stillness, as if the forest itself had swallowed whoever had fired it.
"Guards, formation!" Cassian's voice cut through the silence sharply.
A chorus of "Yes!" followed immediately as the soldiers moved without hesitation, closing in around us. Steel shifted, boots pressed into the powder-covered ground, and within seconds, we were surrounded. Elias's hand tightened around mine, firm and grounding, his grip leaving no room for argument. I did not pull away.
