Chapter 15
Chapter 16: The Thread That Holds
Kathleen wakes at dawn to find Elara gone and Kaelen waiting with a warning about a presence in the north. She and David follow a trail of disturbed resonance to a glade where the weave has been torn by the betrayer's touch. Kaelen is wounded by a shadow that speaks with the voice of the first wound, forcing Kathleen to choose between pursuing the threat and staying to help. She decides to anchor David and Kaelen with her presence, mending the weave through a quiet act of trust, and the chapter ends with the group returning to the cabin, knowing the betrayer has marked them.
Dawn came slowly to the cabin, grey light seeping through the cracks in the shutters like water through old stone. Kathleen had not slept well. She had lain beside David, listening to the rhythm of his breathing, the occasional sigh of the wind, and the distant hum of the resonance that seemed to pulse beneath the earth itself. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the fissure, the darkness, the weight of David's memory pressing against her chest. And then she saw Elara's face, her words echoing in the quiet of the night: The one who was betrayed. The one who learned to weave in the dark.
She sat up, the blanket slipping from her shoulders. The fire had died to ash, and the cabin was cold. David stirred beside her, his hand reaching out instinctively, finding her arm.
"What is it?" he murmured, his voice thick with sleep.
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