Northern and Roma walked through the forest in silence. The air bit cold against exposed skin, sharp enough to sting, and the trees breathed with the small sounds of wild places—rustling branches, creaking wood, the distant calls of things that hunted in darkness. The kind of quiet that wasn't quiet at all. Wild silence, some might call it.
Roma hadn't spoken since they left. Her gaze stayed fixed on the ground before her feet, watching each step as if she'd sworn some private oath not to look up. Not to look at him. Northern noticed the tension in her shoulders, the deliberate way she kept her breathing even. Whatever was churning behind those downcast eyes, it was heavy and personal.
Not his concern right now.
He had intruders to deal with.
