LOGINAmara"Up," Aldric said.His hand was on my shoulder. It was the first time he had ever touched me. His palm was heavy and his grip was very firm.I was on my feet before I even opened my eyes. When you have lived three lives, you learn that some things are more important than sleep. One of those things is listening to a man who knows how to kill."Is it them?" I whispered. My heart was thumping against my ribs."Not yet," Aldric said. He moved his hand away. "But they are close. We leave now.""Sela, get up," I said. I shook her arm. She let out a small, scared sound."What's happening?" Sela asked. Her voice was shaky. "Is someone coming?""Be quiet and pack your things," Bram said. He was already moving. He was rolling up his bedroll so fast it looked like magic. "Do it now, Sela.""I’m trying," Sela said. She was fumbling with her bag. Her fingers were shaking too much to tie the strings."Let me help," Zane said. He was usually the one making jokes. But now, his face was differen
Aldric“She is hiding things from us, Aldric,” Bram said.I did not stop sharpening my sword.I already knew every single thing he was about to tell me.My mind does not work like Zane’s. Zane looks at a person and sees a friend or an enemy. I look at a person and I see a system. I see the way their weight shifts. I see the way they breathe. I see the exits they pick.I had been watching Amara since the first night.I did not know why she did these things. I just knew she did them.“She knows things she shouldn’t know,” Bram said, sitting down across from me. “I watched her today. She was looking at the way you tied the horses. She wasn’t looking like a girl who wants to learn. She was looking like a person who knows how to undo it.”I ran the stone over the steel. It made a long, hissing sound.“I know,” I said.“You know?” Bram asked. He leaned forward. “How long have you known?”“Since the first night,” I said.Bram stared at me. He looked like he was trying to figure out a map tha
Amara"You look like you’ve been walking since the world started," the old man said, pulling the heavy wooden door open before Zane could even knock."We need a place for the night," Zane said. He sounded tired. Even his shoulders looked heavy."I have beds and I have stew," the man said. He stepped back to let us in. "I’m Olan. Come in out of the wind. It’s biting tonight."The warmth hit me the second I stepped over the wood floor."Sit," Olan said. He pointed at a long table. "I’ll get the bowls."I sat on the edge of the bench. I kept my pack on my lap. "How much?" I asked.Olan stopped moving. He was reaching for some clay bowls on a shelf. He looked back at me and tilted his head. "How much for what, girl?""The food. The floor. We don't have much, but I don't want to owe you."Olan didn't look mad. He just looked... peaceful. Like he had never had a bad thought in his life. "You don't owe me for soup. Usually, people tell me a story or help me sweep, but I don't trade for hunge
ZaneI saw them leave the camp last night. I saw Aldric follow her into the dark. I didn’t say a word about it."You’re staring at the fire again," Aldric said. He was sitting across from me, poking the embers with a stick. He looked like he hadn't slept, which made one of us."I’m not staring," I said, putting on my best grin. "I’m contemplating the heat. It’s a very deep subject. You wouldn't get it.""You’re thinking about her," he said. He didn't even look up."I’m thinking about breakfast," I lied. "And how much my feet hurt. And how you look like you fell off a cliff and landed on your face. Did she hit you? Please tell me she hit you. I’d pay gold to see that."Aldric didn't laugh. He never laughs when I want him to. "She didn't hit me. We just talked.""Talked," I repeated. "How romantic. Did you discuss the weather? Or the fact that she told both of us to go to hell yesterday? Because I’m still stuck on that part. Nobody says no to us, Aldric. It’s not even an ego thing. It’s
AmaraMy heart was still thumping like a trapped bird. Corvus was ahead. That thought was big... making it hard to breathe, hard to even pretend to sleep. Everyone was asleep. Everyone but me.How could I sleep?I lay there for a long time. Too long. My eyes were open, staring at the dark trees against the even darker sky. I needed to move. I needed to think with my feet.I pushed myself up. My boots were already on, I never took them off all the way. My small pack, the one with my knife and my water skin, was right beside me. I picked it up. It felt light. Good.Then a voice came from right behind me. "Where are you planning to go?"It wasn't loud. It wasn't angry. It was just... there. My stomach dropped. I spun around, fast. He was four feet away. Aldric. He just stood there. Like he had been there the whole time. But he hadn't. I hadn't heard him move.I didn't have a good answer. And I hated that. I really, really hated it."I... I needed to..." I trailed off. It sounded stupid.
Amara"Is this really what it’s like?" I asked, and my voice sounded small, even to me. The trees stood so tall they scraped the sky, even the night sky. I’d never seen the sky without roofs or walls cutting it up before."What, the outside?" The man, the one who talked a lot, chuckled. "Yeah, sweet pea. This is it. No walls. Just... all of it." He pointed at nothing and everything with his chin. "Name's Zane, by the way. This quiet one is Aldric."The quiet one, Aldric, just nodded. He sat across the dying fire, staring at the trees. He didn’t smile, not even a little bit. Zane, though, he grinned. His eyes were friendly."I'm Amara." I felt a little silly saying my name after being called 'sweet pea' and 'little bird' so many times already through the long walk."Amara," Zane repeated, like he was trying it out. He sounded nice when he said it. "Alright, Amara. First night out. You gonna be okay sleeping with all these trees?""I don't know," I said honestly. It was weird. The groun







