CHAPTER 18 — When the Woods Start Talking

POV: Aria

By midafternoon, the house felt too small.

Rowan was a quiet kind of loud. He barely moved, barely spoke, barely breathed in any way that made sound—

but I could feel him.

Outside. Near the treeline. A steady weight at the edge of my awareness.

Guard dog, Maya had called him.

She wasn’t entirely wrong.

I stood at the kitchen sink, rinsing a mug that was already clean, watching him through the window. He was on the porch now, leaning against the railing, arms folded, eyes fixed on the trees.

Like he was daring the forest to try something.

Maya padded in behind me, chewing on a piece of toast.

She followed my gaze, then made a face.

“He’s still here,” she muttered. “Does he ever go home?”

“Sometimes,” I said.

“Is he being paid? Is this a job? Is he, like… forest security?”

I almost snorted. “Something like that.”

She narrowed her eyes. “He’s acting like a guard dog, Aria. Just saying.”

I didn’t answer.

Because she wasn’t wrong about that either.

The memory of last night brushe