The moon stood high in the sky, vast and pale, casting a cold silver glow across the land. Its light spilled over the narrow road, over the restless trees, over the lone rider who tore through the night as though she were being chased by something unseen.
Dydra did not slow.
Speed's hooves struck the earth in rapid rhythm, breath bursting from his nostrils in white clouds as he obeyed her urgency. The scarf around her head was wrapped tightly, hiding her face so that only her ocean-blue eyes could be seen, bright even in the darkness.
But those eyes were not steady.They were haunted. Her mind would not release the memory of the knight. The branch tearing through steel. The sound.The stillness after.
Her stomach twisted violently, bile rising in her throat. She swallowed hard, forcing it down, but the sickness remained. She had never killed before.
Her grandmother's voice echoed through her thoughts like a curse she could not outrun.
Thedarkness hasbegan to spread within you.
