The forest was too quiet.

No wind. No crickets. No heartbeat but his own.

The assassin moved like a shadow through silver fog, his cloak dark as ink, his daggers coated in starlight poison. His mission was clear: Find the goddess. Kill her before midnight. The king’s command had been simple, but his tone betrayed fear — as though even speaking of her risked her attention.

They said she dwelled at the edge of the world, where the night never ended. He’d laughed at that. Until now.

He stepped into a clearing, and the moonlight bent around him.

There — at the center — stood a woman in black silk that shimmered like water, her hair spilling down her back in a river of stars. The air pulsed faintly around her, soft as breathing. The moment she turned, the shadows seemed to bow.

“You’re late,” she said softly.

The assassin froze, his blade halfway drawn. “…You knew I was coming?”

“I knew the moment your shadow entered my realm,” she murmured. “It trembled.”

He took a step forward, the forest floor crunching beneath his boots. “Then you know what I came here to do.”