Se connecterAria's POVThe infirmary was quiet at midday. Most of the wounded were resting, their needs met for the moment. Mira and Koren had gone to eat. Kira was with Finn, training. For the first time in hours, I was alone with my work and my thoughts.I preferred it that way.The supplies needed organizing again. I moved between shelves and jars, checking labels, counting stock, making mental notes of what we'd need to gather next. The work was mindless, soothing. It kept my hands busy and my thoughts at bay.Or it tried to.The door creaked open. I didn't turn. Footsteps—hesitant, uncertain. Stopping just inside the threshold."Aria."My father's voice.I kept my back to him. Kept my hands moving. "The infirmary is for the wounded. Are you wounded?"A pause. "In ways you can't see."I turned then. Slowly. Faced the man who had given me life and then tried to trade it for his own safety.He looked older than he had in the stronghold. The days since had carved deeper lines into his face, adde
Koren's POVThe morning came the same way it always did now—grey light through the windows, the smell of woodsmoke and breakfast, the sounds of the pack stirring to life. I lay on my cot for a moment, listening, taking stock. Ribs still sore but better. Arm strong. Head clear.Another day.I swung my legs over the side and stood, testing my weight. Steady. Good. The wounds from the stronghold were healing, same as everything else. Same as the pack.Mira was already awake, sitting on her cot with a bundle of yarrow in her lap, sorting stems by length and quality. She did that now—woke early, worked quietly, let the rest of us catch up. She'd changed more than any of us, I thought. The quiet girl who used to fade into the background had become someone people noticed. Someone they trusted.She looked up as I passed. "Feeling better?""Getting there." I stretched, felt the pull in my ribs. "You?""Fine." She went back to her yarrow. "Aria wants us in the infirmary after breakfast. New pou
Aria's POVThree days since Malrick's burial. Three days of bandages and poultices and whispered conversations. Three days of watching the pack try to find its footing on ground that kept shifting beneath them.I moved through the infirmary on autopilot, my hands knowing the work even when my mind was elsewhere. Change this bandage. Check that wound for signs of infection. Mix this poultice—more yarrow, less honey, the balance had to be precise. Note that fever, make a record, come back in an hour to check again. The wounded were healing, most of them anyway. The ones who'd survive. The ones who hadn't were already in the ground, and there was nothing more to do for them except remember their names and speak them aloud when the pack gathered.The living required different care. More complicated. More exhausting.Koren sat on a cot near the window, his ribs bound but his spirit intact. He'd been helping with the younger wounded, the ones who needed reassurance more than medicine. A boy
Bren's POVThe world was made of fog.Not the clean fog of morning, the kind that burned off with the sun—this was thicker, heavier, the kind that wrapped around your brain and made everything feel distant and unreal. Sounds came to me muffled, like through water. Faces swam in and out of focus. I couldn't tell if hours had passed or minutes.Someone was touching my arm. Gentle. Careful."Bren." A voice, soft and steady. "Bren, can you hear me?"I blinked. Aria's face materialized in front of me—pale, exhausted, but kind. Always kind. She'd been kind to me since the moment I was pulled from that cage. She'd saved my life more than once.Now she was leading me somewhere. Her hand wrapped around my wrist, tugging gently, guiding me away from the wall where I'd been sitting with Sylvie. Away from Kai. Away from the blood and the memories and the weight of everything I'd just learned."Come on," she said. "You need to rest. Really rest."I let her lead me. Didn't have the strength to do a
Sylvie's POVThe hall had gone quiet.Not the quiet of peace—the quiet of exhaustion. Of people who'd witnessed too much in one night and had nothing left to give. Wolves had retreated to their corners, some sleeping, some just staring at nothing. The blood on the floor had been scrubbed away, but the stains remained, dark against the pale stone.I sat against the wall with Bren curled beside me, his head on my shoulder, his breathing finally evening out into something like sleep. Exhaustion had claimed him, the same exhaustion that pulled at all of us. But I didn't move. Didn't dare. He was my brother—my brother—and I'd spent too many years without him to let go now.Across the hall, near the hearth, Malrick lay on his cot.He was still alive. I didn't know how. Aria had worked on him for hours, her students taking turns holding pressure, applying poultices, doing everything possible to keep him on this side of the veil. Mira and Koren had finally collapsed nearby, their faces grey w
Kai's POVI woke to Aria's face hovering above me, her eyes wide with fear, her hands pressing against my chest like she was checking for wounds I didn't have."Kai. Kai, can you hear me?"I blinked. The world swam back into focus—the storage room ceiling, the crates, the smell of dried goods and blood. My head throbbed like someone had split it open and poured in memories that didn't fit."I'm—" My voice came out rough. "I'm okay. I think."Aria's shoulders sagged with relief. "You passed out. Just—fell. Finn had to catch you."I looked past her. Finn stood in the doorway, his face pale, his knuckles still scraped from the struggle with Bren. Beyond him, in the hall, I could hear voices—confused, frightened, the sounds of a pack trying to make sense of senseless violence.And somewhere in all that noise, I could feel them. The memories. Pressing against the inside of my skull, demanding to be acknowledged."Aria." I gripped her arm. "Where's Bren?"She hesitated. "Still in the hall.
Kai’s POVThe forest edge was a dark mouth and I stood before it, bag on my shoulder, sword at my hip The dawn was grey and cold It matched the silence inside me I took a breath This was the first step The first step into the Ironwood to find herI did not get to take a second step“Alpha”I turned
Aria's POVThe hall held its breath after Varian’s departure, a vast lung frozen. His words echoed in the smoky air—not a blessing, a gravel falling onto the next chapter of our lives. A living weapon, he called me. The words were cold, sharp, and they resonated with the harsh reality I now faced,
Malrick's POV The silence in my northern stronghold was not peaceful... it was a clenched fist the stone walls absorbed sound, warmth and light reflecting only my own growing fury—the failure of the duel, the humiliation of her public rejection —the smug alliance of Thorn and SilverbaneIt was an
Arden's / Aria's POV The silence after the council chamber was a living thing—a thick, velvet blanket smothering the echo of our defiance. Our footsteps were the only sound in the cavernous hallway, a synchronized heartbeat moving away from judgment and toward an even greater test. Kai leaned into







