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Chapter 45:Chasing Shadows.

Author: Nikita Peters
last update Last Updated: 2025-04-03 23:22:19

The world still smelled like smoke and magic.

Selene’s body ached as she stumbled forward, her knees nearly giving out beneath her. The night air was cold against her sweat-dampened skin, but she barely noticed. All she could see was the lingering image of Ronan’s blackened eyes, the cruel smirk on his lips as he let them escape.

He let them go.

Cassian’s firm grip yanked her back to reality. “You’re slowing down,” he growled. “We can’t stop here.”

Varian, still weak from casting the teleportation rune, wavered beside them. “We need to—” he coughed, “—get to cover. If Elias’s men tracked us, we won’t last long out in the open.”

Selene didn’t care.

She twisted out of Cassian’s grip, turning back toward the shadowed landscape they had just escaped from. “We have to go back.”

Cassian’s expression darkened. “No.”

Her heart slammed against her ribs. “Ronan is still in there! You saw it—he told me to run. He’s fighting it.”

Cassian exhaled sharply, stepping closer until his face was inches
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