Chapter 8: The First Step Back

The Druid Elder’s words were a lifeline, but holding onto it required a courage I wasn't sure I possessed. The idea of willingly facing my fear, of looking at the thing that had haunted my nightmares for two decades, was terrifying. But the alternative—a life of being a prisoner to a curse, of being a weakness to Kaden, of this constant, agonizing push and pull—was worse. I didn't have to seek him out. He came to me the next evening, appearing outside Lia's building like a shadow drawn...