The forest beyond Maeve's cottage was alive with restless whispers. Moonlight barely pierced the heavy mist curling between the trees, turning every branch into a skeletal claw reaching for them.
Elyra tightened her grip on Kael's hand as they sprinted through the undergrowth, their feet barely making a sound on the mossy floor. Somewhere behind them, a horn sounded — low, cruel, and cold.
The Queen might have fallen, but her hunters had not.
"They're coming," Kael panted, glancing over his shoulder.
Elyra didn't need him to say it. She could feel them — figures wrapped in cloaks of shadow, riding beasts not born of this world. Their presence chilled the air, turning breath into frost.
"We have to reach the Hollow Bridge!" Kael shouted.
Elyra nodded. She remembered Maeve's stories: the Hollow Bridge, an ancient crossing where the Veil was thin and the hunters couldn't pass without invitation.
Another horn blast — closer now.
Branches whipped against Elyra's arms and face. Her legs burned, her lungs screamed, but she didn't stop. Kael was right beside her, every step steady, even as blood seeped from a cut along his ribs.
A scream tore through the night — not human, not animal. Something older.
Suddenly, the ground beneath them gave way.
They tumbled down a steep embankment, rolling through dead leaves and tangled roots. Elyra hit the bottom hard, her shoulder wrenching painfully.
Kael landed beside her, coughing. He pushed himself up and reached for her, eyes wide with urgency.
"Get up — now!"
The first of the hunters crested the hill above, mounted on a nightbeast with burning red eyes.
The hunter raised a black spear, its tip dripping with shadow.
Elyra stumbled to her feet just as the spear flew — a blur of darkness.
Kael shoved her aside and the spear missed by inches, burying itself deep into a tree with a hiss that made the wood rot instantly.
Without thinking, Elyra grabbed a handful of riverstone charms from the pouch at her waist — the last of Maeve's gifts — and hurled them at the hunter.
The stones struck the nightbeast's hooves and exploded in bursts of silver light. The creature shrieked, rearing back, throwing its rider.
"Run!" Kael shouted.
They bolted again, following the distant roar of water.
Minutes blurred into heartbeats. Behind them, more horns sounded, angrier now.
Finally, through a break in the mist, Elyra saw it — the Hollow Bridge.
It wasn't what she expected.
No grand stone arch, no sturdy beams. Just a ribbon of tangled roots and mist stretched across a black gorge. The river below thundered against jagged rocks.
The bridge shimmered faintly — as if it were half in this world, half somewhere else.
Kael hesitated for only a heartbeat, then grabbed Elyra's hand tighter.
"Trust me."
She nodded, heart hammering.
Together, they sprinted onto the bridge.
The roots twisted and writhed underfoot, but somehow, they held. Elyra didn't dare look down. The mist swallowed everything.
Halfway across, a scream split the air — and the hunters were on them.
Three of them, faster than the others, their cloaks trailing black smoke. One hurled a chain made of burning bone.
It wrapped around Kael's leg, yanking him off balance. He fell hard, nearly sliding off the bridge.
"Kael!" Elyra screamed, grabbing his arm with both hands.
The hunter yanked again, trying to pull him into the gorge.
Snarling, Elyra drew her silver dagger and slashed at the chain. Sparks flew — the first strike didn't cut deep enough.
The hunter grinned, revealing teeth too sharp, too many.
"No!" Elyra cried.
Summoning everything inside her — the light from the loom, the fire of her spirit — she drove the dagger deep into the chain a second time.
The chain shattered with a flash of white light.
Kael scrambled back onto the bridge, chest heaving. He didn't let go of Elyra this time.
Together, they staggered the last few steps.
The moment their feet touched the far bank, the mist surged up like a living wall, roaring between them and the hunters.
The bridge vanished.
The hunters howled in fury, their forms dissolving into smoke.
Elyra collapsed to her knees, trembling. Kael dropped beside her, pulling her into a fierce embrace.
For a long time, neither of them spoke — just breathed, alive, clinging to each other in the silence after terror.
When Elyra finally looked up at him, their faces were only inches apart. His hand cupped her cheek gently, reverently, like she was something precious he had almost lost.
"You saved me," he said roughly.
"You would have done the same," Elyra whispered.
For a moment, the mist around them quieted, and the world seemed to hold its breath.
Slowly, without fear or hesitation, Kael leaned in — and their lips met.
The kiss was soft, tentative at first, then deepened as the tension and terror of the night melted away, leaving only raw, fierce feeling.
The world spun around them — but in that moment, they were the only two people who mattered.
When they finally pulled apart, Kael rested his forehead against hers.
"We're not safe yet," he murmured.
"No," Elyra agreed, her voice steady. "But we're together."
And for the first time since the Veil had touched her life, Elyra truly believed they had a chance.
A chance to rewrite destiny. A chance to find the truth beyond the mists.
A chance for love.
Even if they had to fight for it with everything they had.