They left before the light fully changed, six of them moving through terrain that belonged officially to no one, the specific silence of contested ground settling over the group as they crossed the old boundary markers that had once separated Bloodfang and Shadowpaw territory before the coalition made the distinction largely meaningless.

Marina ran close to Silvain the entire way, the bond between them narrowed down again to the same wordless clarity that had carried them through the tower, the stones, the vault, and she found herself grateful, in the strange, adrenaline sharpened way that only made sense in the middle of danger, that the last day had stripped away...