The commander bowed and immediately left to relay the order.
Kade returned his attention to the villagers, but the silence that followed no longer felt quite the same. He had not received an answer, yet the young man's involuntary glance had given him something far more useful.
There was a forbidden place somewhere beyond the village.
And whatever waited there had been hidden for long enough that the people of Blackwood Village were willing to risk the wrath of their sovereign rather than reveal its location.
Kade's expression hardened as he looked toward the northern windows.
He had come to Blackwood Village looking for answers, expecting to uncover the reason the villagers had attacked his Shadow Guards and concealed themselves from his authority.
Instead, he was beginning to realize that the village itself was only the outermost layer of something much larger.
Whatever secret had been buried beyond those northern woods, Kade intended to uncover it.
