012 | WITHOUT WORDS

Somehow, two weeks had passed in a blur. I didn’t want to think about why the time had gone so quickly, but the ridiculous pounding of my heart and the way my bones melted beneath my flesh every time Ares was near pointed it out whether I liked it or not. Even now, sat in the banquet hall, pale sunlight sending colours from the stained glass scattering across the dented wooden table, I could feel his presence more keenly than I could feel the bite of the cold air that swept through the room every time the door was opened.

I picked at a stale hunk of bread, tearing off a small chunk and balancing a thin slice of cheese on top of it. The meagre portion of bread, cheese, and berries we were given every morning for breakfast was something I was slowly getting used to, but my stomach ached for cinnamon buns and jam-filled pasties and fresh squeezed orange juice. 

With no suitable farmland in their territory, the Winterpaw Warrior Pack relied solely on the goods they