Chapter 98

In the cave, Aria Bennett suddenly opened her eyes.

She rose quietly and had just reached the entrance when familiar footsteps echoed behind her.

"Damian?" she whispered.

Damian Cross emerged from the shadows, the moonlight outlining his tall, lean frame. "Going to deal with the beast bones?"

Aria arched an eyebrow. "How did you know?"

"Lucky guess," he replied, the corner of his mouth lifting. "The Sevenfold Bone Mirage can't be left intact."

Her pulse quickened. This man always seemed to read her thoughts.

"Together?" he asked.

She nodded. Moving in perfect sync, they slipped past the patrolling special forces and vanished into the night.

Outside the cabin, a guard stifled a yawn.

He never noticed the two figures silently unearthing the buried bones.

"This sigil..." Damian traced the eerie markings on the bone with his fingertips.

Aria handed him a small knife. "Just scrape it off."

Under the moonlight, they knelt side by side, meticulously working through each bone. Damian's movements were precise and practiced, as if he'd done this countless times before.

Aria stole a glance at him. The concealment technique he used felt hauntingly familiar, but her memory remained frustratingly blurred, like a veil she couldn't lift.

"Done." Damian buried the last bone back in the earth.

Aria murmured an incantation, pressing a decay sigil into the soil where it dissolved without a sound.

"Let's go." She dusted off her hands.

When they returned to the cave, Nolan Reed was tossing restlessly in his sleeping bag.

Seeing Aria's empty bed, his chest tightened. He was about to go search for her when soft footsteps sounded at the entrance.

Moonlight revealed Aria and Damian walking in one after the other. Nolan's fists clenched.

At dawn, Aria rose to find Nolan immediately at her side.

"Aria..." He hesitated, words caught in his throat.

She kept walking. "I'm going to wash up."

"I'll come with you!" he blurted.

Aria glanced back toward the cave. "I'll wake the others to join us."

Nolan's smile froze. Watching her retreating figure, an ache spread through his chest.

The girl who once only had eyes for him now wouldn't even give him a moment alone.

And Damian...

Nolan's hands balled into fists. The way that man looked at Aria—he knew that gaze all too well.

It was the same way he himself had once looked at her.

A wave of urgency crashed over him. Taking a deep breath, Nolan followed her into the cave.

He had to do something before he lost her completely...