Chapter 37 Flight in the Night

Chapter 37 Flight in the Night
Elara's POV

I rushed to open the window, and the bird flew in, circling the room once before landing on my bed. As I watched, it shimmered and transformed back into a folded letter, the paper slightly worn from its journey.

"Selena!" I called, my voice trembling with anticipation and fear. "It's here!"

She appeared in my doorway moments later, her hair loose around her shoulders, eyes alert despite the late hour. Without a word, she took the letter and broke the wax seal.

I watched her face as she read, searching for any sign of our fate. Her expression remained carefully neutral until she reached the end.

"Well?" I asked, unable to bear the suspense.

Selena lowered the letter and met my gaze. "Connor has agreed. He'll take you as his wife."

The words hung in the air between us, heavy with finality. This was really happening.

"When?" I whispered.

"We leave tomorrow night," Selena said. "Pack only what you can carry. We'll travel light and fast."

As she turned to go, I caught her arm. "Selena... thank you. For everything."

She squeezed my hand briefly. "Save your thanks until we're safely away from here. The hardest part is still ahead."

After she left, I stood at the window, watching the night sky. Somewhere out there, a human hunter waited to claim me as his bride. A stranger who would become my shield against the wolves at my heels.

I thought of Ethan, my mate who'd just realized my existence before death. I thought of my parents, still enslaved under Victor's rule. I thought of Maya, whose body I inhabited and whose life I was about to further complicate.

The next day crawled by with agonizing slowness. I packed and repacked my small bag, choosing only what might help me start a new life.

As dusk fell, Selena entered my room carrying a bundle of herbs.

"It's time," she said, unwrapping the dried plants. "These will mask our scent."

She crushed the herbs between her palms, muttering incantations under her breath. The air filled with a sharp, pungent aroma that made my eyes water.

"Here," she said, rubbing some of the mixture onto my wrists and neck. "Now for the concealment spell we've been practicing. Tonight, you'll need it."

My stomach knotted with anxiety. "I'm not sure I'm ready."

"You don't have a choice," Selena said firmly. "The eastern gate is heavily guarded."

An hour later, we slipped out the back door of Selena's cottage. The night was moonless, clouds obscuring the stars—a blessing for our escape. We kept to the shadows, moving silently through the sleeping village.

As we approached the eastern gate, I could make out the silhouettes of two guards. Selena pulled me behind a tree.

"Now," she whispered. "Remember what I taught you."

I closed my eyes and whispered the spell three times. A tingling sensation spread across my skin, and when I looked down, my body seemed slightly blurred at the edges, softened against the darkness but still visible.

"Not perfect, but it will help in the shadows," Selena murmured, casting her own spell. Her outline wavered and blended more effectively with the night. "Stay close."

We crept toward the gate, my heart pounding. Twenty paces away. Ten. Five.

A twig snapped beneath my foot.

One of the guards turned sharply. "Who's there?"

I froze, panic threatening to break my concentration. The tingling sensation began to fade—my already weak spell was weakening further.

"Hold," Selena's voice whispered in my mind. I felt her hand grip mine.

The guard took a step toward us. "Show yourself!"

My spell flickered, the blurring effect fading entirely. His hand moved to his sword.

In an instant, Selena yanked me against her, wrapping her cloak around us both. Her magic intensified, enveloping us in deeper concealment.

The guard advanced, less than three feet away now. I could smell the ale on his breath, see the scar along his jawline. One more step and he would bump right into us.

I held my breath as Selena's fingers twitched at my side. From the far side of the gate came a sudden, sharp crack—like a heavy branch snapping—followed by a rustle of undergrowth.

The guard halted, head swiveling toward the new sound.

"Markus!" his companion called out. "I think there's something over here!"

The guard—Markus—hesitated, his eyes sweeping across our hiding spot. For a terrible moment, I thought he would touch us.

"Coming," he finally replied, turning away. "Probably just a deer."

"Too big for a deer," the second guard insisted as Markus rejoined him. They moved together toward the disturbance, giving us our opening.

We slipped through the gate like ghosts. Only when we'd put a hundred yards of forest between us and the village did Selena release me from her cloak.

"That was too close," she said, her voice tight. "Your spell needs work."

"I'm sorry," I whispered, shame burning in my chest. "How did you make that noise?"

"A simple distraction charm. Remember it—sometimes misdirection is more useful than concealment."

Once we were well beyond Pine Hollow's borders, Selena allowed us a moment to breathe. For the first time in weeks, I felt the crushing weight of Victor's rule lift slightly from my shoulders. We were outside his immediate reach.

"Don't celebrate yet," Selena warned, reading my expression. "We have a long journey ahead."

By dawn of the second day, we'd made good progress through the forest. As we settled into a small cave to rest, Selena suddenly tensed, her head snapping up like a deer catching a scent.

"What is it?" I whispered.

"Raven, Victor's spy," she hissed, the name sending a chill down my spine.

"He's found our trail," Selena explained, gathering our few belongings. "We need to move."

Exhaustion claimed me as we pushed deeper into unfamiliar territory, and nightmares rushed in the moment I closed my eyes during our brief rest. I saw Maya's face, accusing me: "You stole my life, my future."

She morphed into Ethan, blood running down his chest: "You left me to die." I woke with a strangled cry, Selena's hand clamped over my mouth.

"Quiet," she hissed. "He's nearby."

From our hiding place beneath a fallen oak, I glimpsed him—a slender man with sharp features and calm, calculating eyes. He moved with disturbing silence, examining broken twigs and disturbed earth where we had passed hours before.

"How does he find us?" I whispered when he finally moved on.

"He was trained by wolves before turning on his own kind," Selena replied grimly. "And he has this."

She held up a small scrap of fabric—part of my cloak that had snagged on a branch earlier that day.

"He'll use this to track us by scent. We need to break the trail."

On the third morning, we reached a rushing river. Selena's face lit up with grim determination.

"Perfect," she whispered, eyeing the churning waters. "Water erases scent."

I hesitated, memories of my father teaching me to swim flashing through my mind. Would I ever see him again? The thought paralyzed me until Selena shook my shoulders.

"Elara! Focus!"

The current was swift, the water icy. Selena fashioned a small raft, binding branches with vines and strengthening them with whispered spells. Unlike our pursuer, we couldn't follow the riverbank without leaving tracks. We would have to cross.

Halfway across, our raft broke apart. The freezing water shocked my system as we were plunged into the current. Selena grabbed my arm, pulling me toward the shore. My lungs burned, my limbs grew numb, but somehow we made it to the bank.

Before continuing, Selena carefully laid a false trail along the riverbank heading north, while we turned south. "Misdirection," she reminded me with a tight smile.

That night, huddled in a hollow oak, Selena taught me to conjure a warming flame without smoke. "Magic isn't just for concealment," she murmured. "It's for survival."

By the fourth day, hunger had hollowed my cheeks. As I chewed bitter roots, I wondered which was worse—dying as Elara or living as someone else.

"You're thinking too loudly," Selena said. "I can practically hear your doubts."

"How do you know they're just doubts?" I asked.

"Because if they were certainties, you'd have turned back already."

On the fifth night, fevered from infected blisters, I stumbled into a thorny thicket. As Selena extracted the thorns, I began to sob.

"I can't do this anymore," I whispered.

"You already have done it," she replied gently. "You survived when you shouldn't have. You keep moving when most would surrender. That is strength, Elara."

"But I'm so afraid."

"Good. Fear keeps you alert. It's resignation that kills." She bandaged my feet with strips torn from her own cloak. "Now rest. I'll keep watch."

On the sixth night, as we crested a hill, I saw lights in the distance—the flicker of campfires from a human settlement.

"Connor's village," Selena confirmed, squeezing my shoulder. "We made it."