Chapter 2

Before I left Central City, I wanted to return the last few things that belonged to them.

So I went to find Holden at the training grounds.

When he was 15, he’d pulled his first boar’s tusk during his coming-of-age trial. He’d made it into a pendant and asked me to keep it for him.

He said it was the badge of honor he’d earned in his coming-of-age trial. He wanted to give his most precious trophy to the most important person in his life.

When I found him, he was dripping with sweat as he set up a heated mattress for Mia.

I held out the tusk. “Here. It’s yours.”

He blinked, then tossed the tusk into a junk bin without a second thought. “Why are you giving it back all of a sudden? Actually, your timing’s perfect. Mia needs help moving some heavy stuff. You’re strong. Come give me a hand.”

The trophy pendant he’d once called so precious had been tossed aside without a thought.

I was the only one who’d ever taken those promises seriously.

I stayed where I was. “I might not get another chance to return it. I need to go pack my gear.”

Holden snorted. “You’ve been tough since you were a kid. You can pack a field bag in ten minutes flat. What’s the rush?”

I didn’t bother saying another word. I just turned to leave.

He didn’t even ask what day I was leaving.

Then I gave him back the hand-drawn maps he’d left with me.

He took the maps, but his eyes suddenly locked onto the leather-bound diary I was hugging to my chest.

It was my personal diary, filled with ten years of memories I’d carefully written down about growing up with Holden and Elias.

“Leave the diary here.”

Holden spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world. “Mia wants to write a memoir. She wants to know more about me and Elias.”

Beside him, Mia gazed at the old diary with watery eyes and said in a timid, pleading voice, “Chloe, I just want to copy down a few stories from when you were kids. I want to know what they were like growing up. I promise I won’t mess with your things—”

“But you were never part of our childhood.” I looked up and cut her off.

Holden frowned. “Do you have to be so mean? She just met us a few years later than you did. She’s upset she missed out on growing up with us.”

“So you get to take my memories by force to make up for what she missed?” I shot back, every word clear.

Holden completely lost his patience. Before I could say anything else, he grabbed my hand, jerked it toward him, and wrenched the diary free.

“We’re only borrowing it for a few days so we can copy some things down. When we’re done, I’ll have Elias bring it back to you.”

I slowly unclenched my hand and answered calmly, “Fine.”

That diary held ten years of my most precious memories. But every time they chose Mia over me, those memories lost a little more of their meaning. Now they meant nothing to me.

My answer caught Holden off guard. His expression softened, and he spoke in a gentler tone. “See? Wouldn’t it be easier if you just agreed from the start? Go train up north and don’t worry. Once you’ve had enough hard knocks and learned to calm down, we’ll put in a request to bring you back.”

All this time, he’d forgotten what those orders meant. He’d never cared enough to remember.

Once that northern transfer took effect, I couldn’t even apply to come back for five years.

Maybe Elias was trying to make up for it. He took me out to a restaurant, something he’d never done before.

It was supposed to be a date, but he spent the whole evening glued to his communicator, replying to Mia’s messages.

Mia said the mattress was too soft and hurt her back, so he arranged to exchange it right away.

Mia said the wolf howls scared her, so he sent her voice messages to calm her down.

The ribs in front of me went stone cold, and he didn’t even notice.

“Elias, do you remember what I’m doing tomorrow?” I tapped my plate with my silver fork.

He finally looked up, a little impatient. “Packing to leave?”

“Something like that.”

He visibly relaxed and pushed the glass of red wine toward me. “Come on, don’t look so upset. Just focus on settling in up north. We’ll come visit once the weather clears up.

“Oh, right. You’ve got that memory stone, don’t you? Before you go, trim down the footage you’re in and send it over. I want it for Mia’s memoir.”

My memories, my footage—all of it was something they could use to make Mia happy.

To them, I was nothing more than a tool they could use whenever it suited them.

It didn’t surprise me at all. For Mia, they’d throw me away without a second thought.

The border transfer, the memory stone, the diary. Whatever Mia wanted, I was expected to give it up for nothing—and somehow thank them for looking out for me.

When I got home, I pulled up all the footage, selected every clip I appeared in, and deleted them for good.

I gave the empty memory stone to a servant and asked him to take it to Elias after I left.

It was my last gift to them. A past wiped clean of Chloe.

With that done, I zipped up my only black duffel bag.

18 years of my life here, and it all fit in a single bag.