{AURORA'S POV}
The forest had swallowed us whole.
We've been walking since dawn yesterday, our feet dragging over tangled roots and damp earth, hunger gnawing through our stomachs. Our belongings—what little we carried into the battle—were left behind, trampled into the blood soaked ground we fled.
Every step forward felt heavier than the last, as if the grief we were all carrying on our shoulders had weight.
It wasn't just weariness that dulled the camp. It was loss.
Everyone here carried a wound, though not all were visible. A sister. A brother. A lover. A friend.
Too many souls swallowed by death. And for Rhea… her son.
She walked at Morganna's side, silent, her red-rimmed eyes staring ahead at nothing. Her cheeks were streaked with dried tears, her body swaying like she might collapse if Morganna weren't holding her arm.
