CHAPTER 30

The clash of conflict echoed across the land,
even from miles away. Deep in the rough hills
of an ancient forest, Elide had waited for
hours. First shivering in the dark, then
watching the sky bleed to gray, then at last
blue. And with that final transition, the clamor
had started.
She’d alternated between pacing through
the mossy glen, weaving amongst the gray
boulders strewn between the trees, and sitting
in the thrumming silence against one of the
towering, wide-trunked trees, making herself
as small and quiet as possible. Gavriel had