Ashes & Oaths

and black moss, Seraphine Vale crouched low in the underbrush, breath tight in her throat. Her fingertips pressed i

ssed into the w

g faintly violet in the gloom. The forest was dense here, suffocating. And yet she could fee

h hu

s subtle, meant to hide, not strike - the mark of someone who had lived too long being hunted. Ligh

boots broke t

but his steps were silent even over the sodden forest floor. He was tall, le

Tho

from whispered stories passed between witches like curses. The Ghost of D

lly

doing this deep

oo late. She had cloaked her trail three forests ago and cast

fr

e ground. And without hesita

ade to the chest. No one had

ily was burned al

gerous for anyone - but especially for those like him. The scent of old magic clung to the air like rot. He'd seen the signs:

a witch

ut of you in the Witch Guard, long before

h his glove, the silver mark on his skin pulsed faintly. The Hunter's

ere," he

o smooth for an animal. He

th

the

eat was slow, trained. She had spent years evading hunters, killers, and worse. But Kael Th

didn't k

dangerous t

- delicate, almost invisible. It laced toward him like a strand of

it touched his

l fl

read s

you," K

n through the air and embedded into the tree trunk inch

ed. She

sending both crashing to the muddy ground. She rolled, kicked upward - and he caug

a shield of spellst

're not dead. Tha

to ice-blue - and in that

, disappearing

't follow

had grazed him. His skin burned faint

t felt li

ow cut on her side. Her magic pulsed around her like a shield, trembling with

el Tho

tried to

re

died her.

ed

something

beside her, blinking sleepy ambe

d. "He was tryi

ed more like he was try

w that unset

d to the bone. The guards gave him wide berth. He wa

ht he did

hand. It matched the one he'd found in the Nightbloom ruins ten years

oy raised to believe that witches were evil. That

l hiding beneath the floorboards. A sing

r told

et h

e saw that

n years, Kael Thorne felt so