Cassian’s Pov;

Night settled like smoke over the valley as we drove north again.

The same road that had carried us away from fire now carried us back toward it.

The truck’s headlights cut through a thin fog, turning the blackened trees into pale ghosts on either side.

Naomi sat beside me, hood drawn, her fingers tracing the wolf pendant I’d given her months ago. She hadn’t spoken since we left the city. She didn’t need to. The silence between us was thick enough to fill the cab.

The ruins appeared just after midnight, a silhouette of ash and twisted metal rising from the fields. The barn’s frame still stood,...