Page 31 of Too Dangerous To Die

I crest the edge of a ridge and stop.

And I see them.

Three figures.

Standing just beyond the broken valley, their forms partially cloaked in tattered robes and armor so old it seems fused to their bodies. They are tall. Unmoving. Silent.

My breath catches. I blink once, hard. But they’re still there.

They do not approach.

They justwatch.

I try to take a step back, but something inside me… freezes. Not from fear, but from recognition. As though a piece of me knows them. Not their names, not their history. Just the feeling of them.

Like a memory with no origin.

Suddenly,a whisper. Inside my head.

“Nora…”

It’s not a voice I know. It’s not even truly a voice. It’s more like theidea of one, curling behind my ribs.

I spin, panic swelling, and nearly collide with Rhaegar.

He grabs my shoulders, steadying me with ease. “What did you see?” he asks, his eyes immediately scanning the darkness beyond me.

“They’re down there,” I whisper. “I—I don’t know what they are. They didn’t move. They didn’t speak. They just… watched me.”

Rhaegar turns slowly, gaze locking on the spot I point to.

There’s nothing there now. Only fog curling low over the ground and the faint shimmer of the moonlight on cracked stone.

“You saw them, didn’t you?” I press. “They were real.”

He doesn’t answer immediately. When he finally speaks, it’s careful. Too careful.

“This land is full of echoes,” he says. “Some take shape. Some follow.”

“That’s not an answer.”

He looks down at me, gold eyes gleaming like wildfire. “No, it’s not.”

I want to scream at him, demand the truth, but a cold shiver races up my spine and stills my voice.

Because I realize something as I look into the night beyond the ridge.

They didn’t leave.

They’re still watching.

They’re just waiting for me to look away.

14

RHAEGAR

Nora is unraveling.

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