Mag-log in(Lena POV)
I made it through the corridor and through the east wing and out the side door into the compound grounds before my eyes went hot, and I kept walking because stopping meant standing in the middle of the compound where anyone could see me and I was not going to do that, so I walked the path to the south gate until the gate guard opened it and I was through and on the Lowlands road and out of sight of the compound wall.
Then I stopped walking and pressed
(Julian POV)The east wing common room was empty except for the low hiss of the fire dying in the grate. The scent of pine wood and old paper hung heavy in the air, a familiar comfort that felt increasingly like a mask for the rot underneath.Sienna was sitting in the corner chair, her boots tucked under the hem of her skirt. She held a book open on her lap—a collection of old pack laws, the edges frayed and yellowed—but she hadn't turned the page since I entered the room. I walked across the rug, the floorboards silent under my weight, and pulled out the chair directly across from her.She didn't look up immediately. She traced the gold leaf on the book’s spine, her movements small and repetitive. I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees, watching the way the orange light from the embers flickered across her face."Kai is lost, Sienna," I said.She didn't flinch. She didn't look surprised. She just shifted
(Julian POV)The dining hall felt like the inside of a drum, vast, hollow, and amplifying every tiny sound. The sun was just beginning to hit the high, arched windows, casting long bars of amber light across the oak table.Kai was eating an apple. It was the only thing on his plate.I sat three chairs down, my own breakfast a cold, congealed mess of eggs that I hadn't touched. I watched him. For the last three days, the frantic, jagged energy that had defined him since Lena’s first departure had vanished. There were no more midnight border runs that left his boots stained with red clay. No more outbursts in the training yard. He was still, and that stillness was more unnerving than his rage had ever been.He held a small silver pocket knife, the blade clicking against the ceramic plate with every downward motion as he sliced the fruit into perfect, uniform wedges."The men are talking, Kai," I said, my voice low.Kai d
(Lena POV)The rain stopped sometime during the night, leaving the Lowlands under a thick, clinging fog that smelled of wet ash and stagnant water. I stayed in bed until the light coming through the window turned from gray to a dull, bruised yellow. In the kitchen, the floorboards creaked under Mira’s weight, a steady, rhythmic sound as she moved between the stove and the table. I dressed slowly, pulling on the sweater Theo had left on the back of the sofa three days ago, and walked out into the hall.Mira was standing at the counter, her back to me. She was slicing a loaf of bread, the knife making a clean, sharp sound against the wood. She didn't look around when I sat at the table. She just pushed a plate toward me, two thick slices of bread resting on the edge, and went back to the stove to check the kettle."Theo didn't come back," I said, my voice sounding rough in the quiet room.Mira picked up a dishcloth and wiped a spot of flour off the counter. "He’s at the boundary with Ja
(Lena POV)I don't know when I slept; maybe it was because of my selfish action or something else that made me feel a headache and fall asleep, but I remember that Theo was here questioning me and left when I didn't answer his questions.Now the house felt larger than it was, the silence in the hallway stretching out from the empty space where Theo’s boots usually sat by the door. I poured the water into a mug, watching the tea leaves swirl and settle at the bottom, and carried it to the window.Outside, the street was gray under a low ceiling of clouds. Mrs. Gable was hanging laundry three houses down, her movements stiff as she pinned a heavy wool blanket to the line. She stopped for a moment, looking toward the community room at the end of the lane, and then looked at Theo’s front porch. I stepped back behind the curtain, the ceramic mug hot against my palms.By noon, the rain started, a fine, cold mist that turned the dirt road into a slick of orange mud. I put on my coat and move
(Lena POV)"Did you know," he repeated, his voice dropping into a dangerous, jagged register, "that while forty of our people were standing at a fence waiting to die, the war was already over?"I looked at him, and for the first time in my life, I didn't have an answer. I looked at my hands, the hands that had touched the fence, the hands that had whispered a timeline to a man who lived in the dark.The silence returned, but this time, it was the silence of a house that had finally collapsed.The kitchen had grown smaller. The walls, once familiar and comforting with their peeling paint and the smell of dried thyme, now felt like they were physically closing in. I stood my ground, my spine rigid, as Theo’s gaze burned into me. We were two people who had spent our lives navigating the shadows together, but for the first time, the shadow between us was an abyss."It’s complicated," I said. The words felt pathetic the mome
(Lena POV)The walk back to Theo’s house had been a blur of shadows and the rhythmic pounding of my own heart. The evening before, the air had felt thick, pregnant with the moisture of the coming rainy season and the static of a war about to ignite. Kai had walked me to the south gate himself—a break from his usual cold, calculated distance.At the gate, the moonlight had caught the sharp planes of his face, making him look more like a statue than a man. He had stopped, his hand resting briefly on the rusted iron, and looked at me with an intensity that made my breath hitch."Go back to Theo's," he’d said, his voice a low vibration. "Stay there tomorrow. Don’t be at the boundary.""Why?" The word had felt small."Because if you are in the compound when Varden moves, someone is going to ask why the heir’s mate came back the day of the attack. I don’t have an answer for that question that doesn&rsq
Victoria Hayes corrected my stance four times during training.I let her. That was how I knew the grief was still sitting on me like a physical weight, because the version of me from two weeks ago would have corrected her back. Instead I adjusted my feet, straightened my shou
The walk back to the quarters felt endless, my body moving on autopilot while my mind remained buried with my mother. Julian peeled off at some point, murmuring something about giving us privacy, and then it was just Kai and me walking through corridors that felt too bright for a wo
My father stood and moved toward the door, but instead of opening it to dismiss me, he paused with his hand on the handle."Walk with me," he said, and it wasn't quite a command but close enough.I followed him out of the study, past Harrison who was pacing in the hall
The woods called to me, offering the solitude I desperately needed. I walked past the training grounds, past the gardens, until the manicured grounds gave way to wild forest. Here, away from the compound's scrutiny, I could actually breathe.Julian's words kept circling in my







