Page 159 of Shadowvein

Her feet slide out from under her, arms windmilling as she pitches toward the path’s edge where the ground drops sharply away.

Without thought, I move. My hand closes around her wrist, halting her fall mid-motion. The contact strikes hard, immediate. A jolt not only through flesh but deeper, where shadow and silver recognize one another. Her eyes widen, the silver in them flaring before she locks it down again with the discipline I taught her.

It impresses me. It shouldn't. It’s beautiful in a way I can’t afford.

“I’ve got you.”

For a heartbeat, we remain frozen—her body suspended between gravity and my hold, her life balanced on the strength of my hand. Our eyes lock in mutual recognition of something neither of us have fully acknowledged. Something dangerous.

Something inevitable.

Then the mist stalker snarls, breaking the moment.

I haul Ellie back up onto solid ground, and immediately step between her and the creature, shadows rising at my call.

The mist stalker crouches, studying us with unnervingly humancalculation. Its lips curl back, revealing long, thin,sharpteeth. Ellie makes a soft sound behind me—fear, shock, or both— and the creature’s eyes snap to her. Its head tilts, eyes narrowing, nose flaring as it scents her.

“Move back toward the clearing.” I don’t take my eyes off the creature. “Slowly.”

The mist stalker’s attention snaps back to me, and it tenses, preparing to spring. I reach deeper into shadow, pulling it tighter around our group like a shield. The darkness responds, confusing the predator's senses. It hesitates, snarling low in its throat.

We continue our careful retreat, each step taking us farther from the drop-off, back toward safer ground. Each movement is a calculated gamble against the beast’s hunger. It follows, step for step, but keeps the distance constant between us—a measured pursuit, predatory patience embodied.

When we reach the clearing, the mist stalker remains at the path’s edge, its body half-shrouded by mist. Only its eyes remain visible—glinting, hungry, aware. Only when we cross the boundary of the stone circle does it finally vanish back into the swirling fog, as if the mist itself pulls it away.

“We need an alternate route,” Varam says. “That section is too exposed, and the mist stalker knows we’re here now.”

I nod, still acutely aware of Ellie standing close beside me. When I caught her arm, something shifted. A barrier I kept intact now compromised. The memory of her skin against mine is distracting me more than I care to admit.

“There’s another path,” Mira says, consulting the map. “It’slonger, but with more cover. It follows the eastern ridge before descending toward Ashenvale.”

“We’ll take it, but we need to move quickly.”

When we set off again, I find myself watching Ellie. The near-fall shook her, but she’s already regaining her composure. She glances back once toward where the mist stalker disappeared.

“Did you notice anything unusual about the creature?” I ask her quietly.

“You mean other than it looked like a deformed giant white wolf?” She shakes her head. “I don’t know. For a second, it felt like … Nothing. Just my imagination. I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

We move along the eastern path, climbing steadily toward higher ground where the mist thins enough to see the surrounding landscape. The trail demands full attention, leaving little opportunity for conversation, and I’m thankful for that. I need time to reconstruct the boundaries that brief connection with Ellie threatened to dissolve.

By midday, we reach a vantage point above the Veil Mists, the valley spread out beneath us like a restless sea of white. Beyond it, maybe a half day’s journey, the outline of Ashenvale rises against the horizon, its walls and towers clearly visible at this distance.

My former home. The heart of the Veinbloods before my capture. Now corrupted into the Authority’s headquarters.

Seeing it sends a complex wave of emotion through me. Anger for what was stolen. Determination to reclaim what matters. And something deeper that resonates with the shadow flowing throughmy veins. The memory of what I once was, and the echo of what I must become again.

The ring I seek lies within those walls, the final piece of myself I divided before my fall. With it restored, my power will be complete for the first time in twenty-seven years.

“Is that it?” Ellie comes to stand beside me. “Ashenvale?”

“Yes. We’ll approach from the east, using forest cover until we reach the outer settlements.”

She studies the distant city, her expression thoughtful. “You lived there once?”

“Icommandedthere.” It’s not the whole truth, but still, the distinction matters more than it should. “It was the primary home of all Veinblood lines before the Authority claimed it.”

“And now you’re walking right into their midst. To recover a ring that contains part ofyourpower.”

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