"Some secrets are guarded not with swords, but with silence, stone, and the fierce love that binds blood to fate."
The air was sharp with pine and stone as I stepped onto the path leading into the heart of Ragar Mountain. Night had fallen fully now, and the stars above the peaks shimmered like scattered silver, cold and brilliant. But the moment my boots touched the carved stone trail, I felt him like a thread tugging at the centre of me, guiding me forward.
Rolan stood at the mountain's entrance, shadowed in the moon's pale light, his golden eyes glowing like embers in the dark. My breath caught at seeing him tall and still, like he was part of the mountain itself. But those eyes softened when they landed on me, and every inch of distance I had travelled melted into nothing.
A smile pulled at my lips. "You felt me coming."
"I always do." His voice rumbled low and warm, stirring something deep in my chest. "You've never needed to knock to be let back into my bones."
