LOGINAlaria:The storm bit harder the farther we ran.Snow clung to my lashes, my breath coming out in ragged bursts, every inhale cutting like glass. The cold had teeth, and it sank deep, past skin and bone, straight into the place that still dared to hope.Anastasia’s small hand was wrapped tight in mine, her mitten slipping every few steps. But mittens slipping was better than her being locked in a luxurious cage. No matter how he tried to make it seem.Marin followed close behind, her steps careful but quick, her face pale beneath the falling snow.“We’re close,” she said between breaths. “The forest line, it’s just ahead. Once we reach it, there’s an old road. It’ll lead us toward the river. They won’t track easily past that. It would help cover our scent. The snow is getting stronger now, it is going to be a lot harder for them to find us through tracks, and the wind could lead them off.”I nodded, though I wasn’t sure I believed it. My body was failing me faster than I wanted to ad
Darius:The storm began just before dawn, cold, sharp, relentless.From my study, I could hear the wind rattling the windowpanes, the old house groaning under its weight. A perfect morning for silence, for control, for order. And yet, all I could feel was something off, a tension humming through the halls like static.I tried to ignore it at first.Tried to focus on the reports laid out before me, on the routes, the names, the trade shifts that usually kept my world in motion. But every instinct I had told me something was wrong.By the time Bianca entered the room, the truth was already crawling up the back of my neck.“Good morning,” I said without looking up. “Tell Alaria to be ready by evening. I want her at dinner again. I believe that this should be a better option for her at this point. Keeping herself locked is not going to get her anywhere.”The silence that followed was unnatural. I looked up slowly, and saw Bianca standing in the doorway, pale, breath caught halfway between
Alaria:The mornings had begun to blend together, gray light, careful silence, and the quiet pacing of footsteps outside my door that reminded me I was never truly alone.It’s been weeks, maybe months since we’ve been here. At this point, I genuinely lost count of how long it has been.My body felt heavier these days, my strength flickering between sharp bursts and exhaustion. The doctor’s tonics helped little; the only thing that steadied me was Anastasia’s small voice when she spoke to me, unaware of how much I needed her calm to keep from breaking.That morning, Bianca came in without her usual sharpness. She carried a tray, but she wasn’t watching me, her eyes were fixed somewhere past me, as if she were listening to something only she could hear.“You need to eat,” she said, setting the tray down. “Your body is growing weaker by the second.”“I’m not hungry,” I murmured, staring out the window. The snow was just beginning to gather outside, soft, silent, deadly in its beauty.Bia
Liam:Trust was never something I gave easily.And after what Claire had done, it wasn’t something she could ever really earn again.But as I stood at the edge of the ridge, watching the storm roll across the horizon, I knew one thing for certain…if there was even a chance she could lead me to Alaria, I’d take it.Even if it meant that I would have to be in the place with her.Kai joined me not long after. He didn’t bother with pleasantries; he rarely did when I looked like this, half man, half wildfire.“She’s dangerous,” he said immediately. “You know that, right? And she could be dragging us deeper into more….”“I know.” I said, stopping him from completing whatever it was that he was going to tell me. Not because I didn’t want to listen, but because I knew that everything that he was going to say was true.“She’s lied before. Manipulated everyone around her. Including you. And she has done it without blinking, Liam. You are allowing that to happen, and you are giving it to her on
Claire:The wind had teeth that night.It bit through the trees, carrying the scent of rain and distant wolves. By the time I reached the ridge overlooking the old border, Liam was already there, his posture a weapon even when he wasn’t speaking.He didn’t turn when I approached. The air around him was taut, charged with the kind of fury that didn’t need words to be understood.“I heard you’ve been burning half the border,” I said quietly. “Impressive. Though not very efficient. It is not going to get you anywhere. And judging by the fact that I, of all people, know you more than anyone else… I am surprised to see that you were foolish enough to believe that it would.”He didn’t look at me. “You shouldn’t be here.”“Neither should you,” I replied, stepping closer. “And yet, here were are.”The silence stretched until I felt it in my bones. When he finally turned, the look in his eyes made the night itself hold its breath.“You said you had something to tell me,” he said flatly. “It is
Darius:She’d walked out without waiting for my dismissal.Most wolves wouldn’t have dared. Most women wouldn’t have survived the silence that followed.But Alaria… she didn’t flinch. She didn’t even look back. The soft sway of her hair was the only trace she left as she disappeared through the doorway, and somehow that was louder than any argument we could’ve had.I sat there long after she’d gone, the untouched food between us cooling into nothing. The candlelight flickered, shadows cutting across the table like old scars. The air still held her scent, soft, warm, infuriatingly alive.For the first time in years, I couldn’t name what I was feeling.It wasn’t victory.It wasn’t desire, not in the way I understood it.It was something quieter, sharper, threaded with a strange, reluctant respect.A feeling that I didn’t even think that I was capable of having.She had faced me without trembling.And that, I realized, I admired far more than I should.The door creaked behind me. Bianca







