COWRIEI ran until my lungs scraped raw, until the courtyard gravel sliced my feet. I got to the garden gate and creaked it open.My skirts tangled around my knees, fists balled at my sides, heart thundering like hooves. I saw her before I could catch my breath—Mama, kneeling by the herb basin, hand
GAVINI found Solenne deep behind the berry grove, halfway between the cliffs and the burnt remains of the southern watch post. She’d drawn glyphs into the soil with her bare hands. Her hair clung to her cheeks, wild from wind and damp from sweat. She didn’t turn when I stepped into the ring, didn’t
GAVINThe guards had whispered, stupid with fear, that she was gone again. I followed her scent through the outer paths behind the storage barns, past the sleeping den, into the low woods that bordered the old stone fence where the Nightbloods used to keep their silent watch.The trees were thick wi
COWRIEI woke before dawn, sticky with pine needles and sweat, his cloak tangled beneath my thigh and his breath slow against the back of my neck.The forest still held the scent of us, thick and reckless, but morning light bled through the canopy, and I couldn’t afford the comfort of staying wrappe
COWRIEThey arrived before sunrise, before the dew dried from the courtyard stones and before I’d finished my tea. First came the guards in cloaks too stiff to move in, then the drummers, then the elders who hadn’t spoken my name in years. They placed my chair in the center of the receiving hall lik
COWRIEThe market square was packed by midday, all noise, elbows and the smell of fried yam. I weaved between stalls, ducked past a cart stacked with soaps and herbs, ignored the familiar greetings tossed in my direction.I only came because Mum said we needed peppers and rice, apparently she won't