Page 123 of Unveiled

The whisper grew clearer. Not audible, not spoken, but a vibration along Adrian’s skin, running like warm liquid through the mark.

It was not one voice. It was many. Layered. Ancient. Bound by choosing. Unbroken by fear.

Adrian’s fingers tightened around Connor’s, and he moved closer until their shoulders pressed together. “It’s repeating our vow.”

Xiathen placed a steadying hand on a tree trunk. “It is acknowledging it.”

Adrian shuddered. “It feels like being seen, but too deeply.”

Connor growled softly. “Then it can see me too.”

The whispers intensified.

New hearts. New vow. Same danger. Same path.

Adrian gasped as the mark flared hot under his skin. At the same time, Connor winced and touched his chest.

“I feel it too,” he murmured.

Do not break. Do not run.

Adrian fell to his knees. Connor dropped with him, arms around him, breathing heavily with effort.

But Adrian wasn’t seeing the forest anymore.

He was seeing Darkness and Light: two figures holding hands at the edge of a dying world.

The First Two, screaming vows into the air as the Veil tore around them.

Fighting to hold the rend shut. Fighting to keep each other alive. Failing.

“Connor, they’re showing me how they died,” Adrian said, his face pale.

Connor held him fiercely. “I see it too. Hold on, that won’t be us.”

The Wood’s voice tried to drown his own out.

Adrian stayed in Connor’s tight grip. His wolf surged, teeth lengthening, claws pressing through skin.

He roared.

Connor’s wolf roared with him.

The forest stilled.

Connor held him, panting, shaking from adrenaline and fury. “If you ever do that again, send images like that to us, I swear I’ll burn this whole grove to ash.”

The trees didn’t flinch. But they changed. The glow dimmed. The whispers softened.

And the voices spoke again, gentler now.

We did not mean harm.

We meant memory.

He is not them.

You are not them.