Chapter 1

I had just delivered Liora’s meal when Kael stopped me.

“Mira, bring me your sister’s moonstone cuff. Liora likes it.”

The cuff had belonged to our mother.

Nia slept with it under her pillow every night.

When I did not move at once, Kael’s face cooled.

“Mira.”

He only used my full name when he was angry.

And when Kael was angry, no one in the pack house tested him.

Two days earlier, Liora had gone into the riding yard in thin shoes and cut her ankle on frozen stone. She said I had glared at her and frightened her into falling. Kael said nothing then, but that night he sent me to run the outer boundary barehanded through the storm until dawn.

He never punished me without a reason.

He only needed one he chose to believe.

So this time, I went to my sister’s room, took the cuff, and fastened it around Liora’s wrist myself.

“It suits you.”

Kael looked pleased and drew her into his side.

“See? Out of everyone under me, she’s still the most obedient.”

“Mira, keep her happy, and maybe there’s still room to discuss our mark ceremony.”

The words had barely left his mouth when Liora’s expression changed.

She jerked her wrist away. The cuff struck the floor and shattered.

Then she gasped and clutched her arm.

Kael moved first, gathering her into his arms.

“Call the healer.”

Low laughter rippled through the room.

They all looked at me as though I were the joke.

A month ago, I had nearly died on a run.

I came back feverish, silver-torn, and half-conscious, and Kael only said, “You’ve gotten slower.”

Then he looked at Liora and added, “Maybe that’s for the best. She needs someone inside the house.”

I tightened my hand around one of the broken shards until blood ran into my palm.

That night, Nia cried when she saw the cuff.

I held her for a long time and whispered the same promise over and over.

“Just hold on a little longer.”

“We’ll be free soon.”

The door was kicked open.

Kael stood there, face dark.

“What is all this crying? You woke Liora.”

“Take your sister and move to the outer lodge.”

Before I could answer, two guards stepped in and hauled our things out.

Nia twisted in their grip and shouted through her tears,

“Kael, you weren’t always like this!”

He froze for the briefest second.

I covered her mouth at once, tears running through my fingers.

Ever since Liora arrived, I had learned what not to say.

The first time I asked Kael to spend more time at the house, he stripped me of command and handed my duties to someone else.

The first time I told Liora to stay out of the target yard, he pressed a dagger to my brow and asked whether I had forgotten my place.

Even when he was hurt, if I brought him hot milk steeped with herbs, he would push it aside and say, “Stop fussing over me. Liora will misunderstand.”

But he had been the one to say he loved me.

He had been the one to say he would mark me and bring me home properly one day.

I let go of Nia slowly. She was still crying under her breath.

The outer lodge stood near the old supply trail, far from the main house and open to the winter wind.

One look at her fever-bright face was enough.

I jumped off the transport cart and ran back through the snow to the main house.

By the time I reached their door, I could barely breathe.

A cup flew before I could knock twice. It shattered against my temple.

Blood ran warm down my cheek.

I bent anyway.

“Liora, I apologize for my sister. She won’t disturb you again.”

Kael looked at the blood on my face and frowned.

“Enough of that look. Anyone seeing you like this would think she wronged you on purpose.”

I ignored him and kept apologizing.

In the end, it took three kneeling bows and my forehead to the floor before Liora finally said she was tired and willing to let it go.

Kael kissed her forehead.

“You’re too soft-hearted. One day that will get you hurt.”

Then he looked at me.

“If you care so much about your sister, no one’s escorting you back.”

“You’ll walk.”

That night, Nia burned with fever on my back while I carried her through the blizzard alone.

At dawn, in the waiting room of a small healing post, I opened my notebook and wrote two words:

Moonstone cuff.

Two left.