We walked until the dark started to thin.
No one had the strength for real conversation. The only sounds were boots on dirt, the occasional sharp breath when someone stepped wrong, and the low rush of wind moving through the higher trees. Lydia leaned more and more on Seraphina. Vale's injured shoulder had soaked through the fresh binding. Feng Lan moved like every step pulled at something deep inside her. Elizabeth stayed near me, quiet, her presence steady even while her energy was almost gone.
The sexual heat from earlier was still there, under the exhaustion. It sat between all of us like a half-finished sentence. But no one reached for it. There was no room left for anything except moving forward.
The ground kept rising. The trees changed from the denser lower forest into older, spaced-out pines. The air turned colder. By the time the first gray light touched the tops of the mountains, we were all running on pure stubbornness.
Vale finally raised a hand.
"Stop."
We did.
