"We train."
The words settled with quiet finality.
No hesitation. No second-guessing.
Selara didn't look away from the forest as she said it, but she could feel Draven beside her, steady and solid, his presence anchoring the tension building inside her chest.
Lyanna studied her for a moment.
Then she nodded once.
"Good."
Selara turned slightly, her silver veins dim beneath her skin but still alive, still aware.
"Not here," Lyanna added.
Draven's gaze sharpened. "Why?"
Lyanna's eyes shifted briefly toward the darker stretch of forest where Kaelen had disappeared.
"Because this ground remembers him," she said. "Every time you draw power here, you're pulling from a place he has already touched."
Selara felt that truth settle immediately.
She had sensed it earlier the way the energy beneath the soil felt… altered.
Not unstable.
Claimed.
She exhaled slowly.
"Then we move."
Lyanna didn't argue.
They turned back the way they came.
But the return felt different.
