The moon was high when Evelina slipped past the outer palace gates under the cloak of night, dressed in muted greys with her hair braided tight beneath her hood.
The guards didn't stop her.
Most had grown used to her comings and goings during the late hours, assuming she was inspecting barricades or assisting the night watch.
But this wasn't about Arcadia tonight.
This was about a vision.
And the entrance hidden near the crumbled rocks of the hunter's trail.
She moved with practised silence, each step calculated as she wove through the woods. Her heartbeat remained calm, but her senses stayed alert.
The forest didn't welcome her the way it used to. Something had changed since Tobias carved his shadows into its bones.
By the time she reached the base of the hill, the moonlight caught on something faint—almost imperceptible—a shimmer of metal hidden behind a drape of tangled vines.
