3. Trouble of a Blind Girl

Kaliah POV

The door creaked open again, and I turned my head toward the sound of footsteps crunching over the wet gravel.

“You two can stay,” a woman’s voice called out, dry and gravelly. “Just for the night. No funny business. And don’t go touching anything that isn’t yours.”

“It’s the old lady,” Kiran whispered to me.

I straightened, raising an eyebrow. “Changed your mind?”

“You looked half-dead out here,” she muttered. “And I don’t like letting kids sleep in the street. Even ones with smart mouths.”

Behind me, I heard Kiran inhale like he'd just been handed a golden trophy. “Thank you, ma’am. Really. You’re a lifesaver.”

Oh no. I could practically hear the smugness leaking out of him.

I tilted my head in his direction. “You’re grinning.”

“What? No, I’m not.”

“You are. I can hear it in your voice.”

“Am I not allowed to be proud that my natural charisma worked?”

I snorted. “She sounds old enough to be our grandmother, Kiran.”

“She said I was pretty.”

“She said you were a pretty liar.”

He didn’t even try to hide his laugh. “Still counts.”

“Honestly, I can’t take you anywhere.”

“You’re welcome for the warm bed and roof, by the way.”

“I’ll thank you when I’m not sharing a room with your overinflated ego.”

The landlady let out a huff, clearly unimpressed with either of us. “If you’re done talking with each other, I’ve got a key and a mop waiting.”

I bowed my head slightly. “Thank you.”

The woman grunted and turned toward the door. “Room’s upstairs, last one on the right. Don’t drip all over my floor.”

Kiran jogged ahead and opened the door for me. “After you, my favorite sister in the world.”

“Careful,” I muttered as I stepped past him, “or I’ll trip and take you down with me.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time.”

Inside, it smelled like old wood and pine-scented cleaner. The floor creaked beneath our steps as we climbed the stairs. I touched the banister, feeling the carved edges beneath my fingers.

My stomach growled suddenly, followed by Kiran’s growling loudly.

“Let me get us some food,” he said.

While I waited for my brother, decided I was sick of sitting there. I attempted to get up from the stool but I ended up tripping abd walking right into the bar.

“Look at her,” a feminine voice whispered.

“Her eyes are grey.”

“I think that means she is blind,” answered an equally feminine voice. “Poor thing. She must be newly blind.”

“Or she’s never adjusted.”

I flushed with shame, unable to believe these women were talking to me like this. Never had I been treated in such a way. The obvious pity and dismissive way they spoke was enough to make me sick to my stomach.

“Hey, why don’t you two be respectful and not talk about someone when they can hear you?” Kiran snapped.

The girls mumbled out an apology, but I didn’t care or want it. They could take their words and shove it up their ass.

“We’ll get you cured,” Kiran whispered as he came back to me.

My heart ached at my brother's words.

“Kiran, this is one of the deadliest forms of wolf venom out there. There is no cure. All I can do is adjust.”

He huffed. “Well, a blind woman can still be a warrior. When we get a chance, we’ll start training so you can adjust to your new way of life.”

We reached the top of the stairs, and he gently nudged my arm. “Last door on the right.”

I followed the sound of his voice and the click of the door unlocking. The room smelled of lavender and dusty linens. The floor creaked, the air was cold, but it was dry. Shelter.

I heard him flop onto the mattress. “Home sweet home.”

My hands flew out as I tried to find the bed. I collided with a chair, getting my legs tangled in it and sending both me and the chair to the ground. Then I pulled the lamp off the dresser with me.

It shattered on the floor before I heard a crack from the chair.

“Kaliah—”

“I’m fine!” I snapped.

I can only imagine how I looked. Blind, bruised, and desperately trying to grope her way around the room.

Now I’d just broken two pieces of furniture, something the woman who owned the Inn was sure ot charge us for.

But the more I tried to get ot me feet, the more difficult it was.

Kiran helped me to the bed, making me lay down and turn away.

I didn’t want to talk.

***

Over the next week, my brother and I worked out a routine at the inn. I would do what I could around the inn, but it wasn’t easy with my blindness.

The day after we arrived, I tried to find my way around downstairs without my brother.

It didn’t go well.

I wanted to be independent, to prove to myself I didn’t need someone holding my hand every step of the way. But apparently, my newfound warrior instincts didn’t extend to navigating creaky hallways, low tables, and precariously balanced serving trays.

I bumped into a chair, then turned too quickly and slammed into a shelf. Something toppled. I heard it before I felt it—the sharp crash of glass hitting the floor, the clatter of metal rolling out.

“Oh, for fu—” someone muttered.

“Sorry,” I said quickly, crouching down and blindly reaching for the broken pieces. “I didn’t mean to—”

“Stop,” snapped a voice, gentler this time. “You’ll cut yourself.”

I froze, hands hovering just inches above the mess.

Footsteps thudded rapidly, then came the unmistakable voice of my brother.

“Kaliah? What happened?”

“I was trying to get around,” I muttered, hating the way my cheeks burned. “Didn’t see the shelf.”

Kiran sighed, crouching beside me. “Obviously.”

“Don’t,” I warned.

He held up his hands—at least, I assumed he did. “Wasn’t going to say anything. Except maybe… that this makes item number three.”

My shoulders sank. “Shit. That bad?”

“Well, let’s do the tally.” I could hear the grin in his voice. “You knocked over a lamp in our room the first night. Cracked the leg of that poor chair during your impromptu wrestling match with it. And now... the fancy teapot from the lobby.”

“Is it fancy?”

“Oh yeah. Floral. Probably older than both of us.”

The woman who owned the Inn added it to our tab.

To hide my grey eyes, I wore a black headband around them. It was easier that way.

But it still didn’t stop me from wallowing in self pity, until Kiran started to encourage me to try to train while he worked. He thought it would help me enhance my other senses.

Kiran worked in the restaurant at the inn while taking me to the forest to train at night. He was helping me train, and on the third day of training, I noticed my sense of smell was sharpening along with my hearing. My movements were even more agile.

“You’re adjusting faster than I expected,” Kiran said as we took a short break, his voice a mix of surprise and pride. “Most people would still be stumbling around, but you’re already keeping pace with me.”

I gave a small smile, breath catching in the cool night air. “Guess I’m a fast learner.”

“You always were,” he replied, tossing me a water bottle. “But this… this is something else. You’re adapting like you were born for it.”

I took a sip, then tilted my head, focusing on the sounds in the woods. “There’s something out there. A fox, I think. About twenty yards northeast.”

Kiran blinked. “You sure?”

“Positive.”

He let out a low whistle. “Okay, now that’s freaky—in a good way. Your senses are kicking in hard.”

I shrugged, but I couldn’t hide the small grin forming. “It helps having you push me. I’d probably still be stuck tripping over roots if you weren’t here.”

He nudged my shoulder playfully. “Nah. You would’ve figured it out. But I gotta admit, it’s nice seeing you like this. Strong. Focused. Almost like…” He hesitated.

“Like what?” I asked.

“Like you’re starting to believe in yourself again.”

His words settled over me more deeply than I expected. I turned slightly toward him. “Maybe I am.”

But it didn’t change the fact that we were on the run because of my former mate.

I still felt immense shame for this.

However, it wasn’t going to stop me.

When I had the chance, I was going to make sure Axel paid for what he did. I expected he had survived the stab to the chest. He was like a cockroach and couldn’t be killed easily.