C14 The Trial of Choice

Though trying to speak, the fire crackled in the hearth. The shadows within the cabin walls shifted-not from candlelight but apparently from something far older and more menacing. Something watching. Eli stood at the center of all this, still as stone.

"I don't want to ruin either of you," he said softly. The words floated in the air like frost. Kael turned his gaze away