Morning came as a dim, grey shimmer, too faint to be called light.
Mist hung in ribbons through the trees, and the air tasted of ash.
Alex sat on the step outside the cottage, hands clasped, watching the forest breathe. The events of the night clung to him like smoke. Every sound the whisper of leaves, the drip of rain felt like the echo of a voice he almost recognized.
Behind him, the door creaked open. Seren for that was the name she'd whispered when she woke stood in the threshold, a blanket draped over her shoulders. Her silver eyes caught the half-light, unreadable.
"You didn't sleep," she said softly.
He managed a tired smile. "Didn't feel right to close my eyes after what happened."
Seren stepped out beside him, the boards creaking beneath her bare feet. "You shouldn't have called him."
Alex's gaze hardened. "You were dying."
"I was meant to," she murmured. "The forest doesn't let go of what it claims."
Her words sent a chill through him. "You keep saying that that the forest owns you. What does it mean?"
She didn't answer immediately. Her fingers brushed the air, tracing invisible shapes. "Once, I made a promise. I thought it was love. The Ashwood gave me beauty, strength… and a bond I couldn't break."
Her eyes darkened. "Now I'm its vessel."
Alex turned fully toward her. "The Hollow King?"
She nodded faintly. "He made me. And now he's found you again."
Alex stiffened. "Again?"
Seren looked at him then truly looked as if searching for something in his face. "You don't remember, do you?"
He frowned. "Remember what?"
Her expression softened into pity. "The night the Ashwood burned. You weren't alone."
He felt it then that hollow ache just beneath his ribs, a place where something should have been. He tried to summon an image: faces, names, the scent of pine and smoke. Nothing came. Only the sense of absence, like an echo of a heartbeat long gone.
Seren reached out, her hand hovering near his. "He took it from you. A memory. Something precious."
He laughed bitterly. "That's the price, apparently."
"It's never just memory," she said. "He takes what the memory binds love, guilt, reason. The threads that make you whole."
Her words lingered in the air. For the first time, Alex noticed the silence in his own thoughts how empty they'd become, like a room with its furniture stripped away.
"I can't even remember who I lost," he said quietly.
Seren's eyes softened. "Sometimes forgetting hurts more than remembering."
They stood there for a while, listening to the forest breathe.
Then, a soft thud against the door startled them both. Alex moved first, pushing it open and froze.
A raven lay on the threshold, wings soaked from rain. Around its neck hung a thin strip of bark etched with runes the same kind the Hollow King had worn across his mask.
Seren bent to pick it up. "A message."
Alex's pulse quickened. "From him?"
She nodded, running her fingers along the carved surface. The runes shifted beneath her touch, glowing faintly. Then her eyes widened, and she dropped the strip as if burned.
"What did it say?"
Her voice was barely a whisper. "He wants what's his."
Alex crouched to pick up the bark, but it had already turned to ash in his hand. The wind carried it away into the mist.
"His?" he repeated. "What does he mean?"
Seren's gaze darted to the forest. "Me."
The words settled like ice between them.
Alex shook his head. "No. I made a deal. The price was mine."
Seren's lips curved into a sad smile. "He never bargains for one thing only. He takes what binds the bargain and that's me."
Lightning flashed in the distance, lighting the horizon with white fire. The forest seemed to shiver, the mist curling tighter around the trees.
Seren took a shaky breath. "If you stay here, he'll come for you too. The Hollow doesn't like debt."
"I don't run from what I owe," Alex said quietly.
She turned to him then, frustration and something like fear flickering in her eyes. "You don't understand. He'll unmake you. The more you fight, the more you forget. Until you're nothing but another whisper in the woods."
He stepped closer, close enough to see the faint glow of her veins pulsing beneath her skin. "Then I'll forget standing."
Something in her broke. "Why would you do that?"
"Because you're still alive," he said simply. "Because I can't let him have that, too."
For a heartbeat, neither spoke. Then Seren did something she hadn't done before she smiled. Not the guarded, sorrowful smile she wore like armor, but something softer, warmer.
"Fool," she whispered.
"Maybe," he said.
The forest rustled again, louder this time as if the trees themselves were listening. A cold wind swept through the clearing, and far off, deep within the woods, came a sound that made both of them go still.
A horn.
Long, low, and mournful.
Seren's face drained of color. "He's calling his hounds."
Alex reached for his coat, his knife, the bone charm still slick with dried blood. "Then we run."
Seren looked toward the misty treeline. "No. You don't run from the Hollow King."
She turned, silver eyes gleaming with defiance. "You face him in the heart of the forest."