Chapter 5

Kael walked toward Liora with a bouquet in his hands, but the closer he got, the more unsettled he felt.

She was smiling at him, radiant and pleased with herself.

And all he could see was Mira.

Mira with blood on her face and defiance in her eyes.

Mira with that battered, stubborn expression she wore whenever she refused to break.

If she had been the one standing here instead, would she have smiled like this?

He could not remember the last time she had smiled at all.

His steps slowed.

Then, right there in front of everyone, he tossed the bouquet aside.

Liora’s face fell instantly.

“Kael, where are you going? This is our vow rite!”

He stopped, his voice flat.

“There’s an important run to handle. We’ll do this another day.”

Liora hurried after him and caught his arm.

“But you already sent Mira in your place. She’s so capable. Nothing will happen to her.”

A few of his men quickly echoed the same thing, and Kael hesitated before stepping back onto the aisle.

Still, the heaviness in his chest remained.

He trusted Mira.

So why did this feel wrong?

In the end, he forced himself to keep walking.

The vow rite mattered too.

And with the promise he had given her before she left, Mira would fight like hell to make the deal go through.

She had always loved him too much to miss a chance to return to his side.

Kael exhaled and slipped the vow band onto Liora’s finger.

By the time the ceremony ended, night had already fallen.

But no one from the dock had returned.

That gnawing unease rose again at once.

He tugged at his collar.

Liora had already changed into a thin slip and wrapped herself around him like a vine.

In the past, he would have answered without hesitation.

Now, the easy familiarity of it only made him more restless.

With Mira, it had never been like this.

She had always been shy.

On the night she first gave herself to him, she had even asked him to put out the lights because she was afraid he would see the scars all over her body.

He still remembered what he told her then.

“These aren’t scars.”

“They’re your medals.”

She had taken arrows for him more times than he could count, and never once had she hesitated, even when the last round of treatment had nearly taken half her life.

Before Mira, Kael had never believed anyone could give without holding something back.

Then he remembered the way she had looked at him in the gown house.

That hollow, hopeless look.

For the first time, there had been no love left in it.

Something in his chest tightened sharply.

Liora noticed and frowned.

“It’s our night. Why are you making that face?”

“You’re not thinking about Mira, are you?”

“That bothersome thing won’t come ruin tonight. Don’t worry.”

“Enough.”

Kael shoved her away so abruptly that she stumbled.

He grabbed a coat and walked out into the storm.

Snow was falling hard, and the whole world looked buried in white.

The pressure in his chest only worsened.

At last, he made his way to the healing den and pushed open Nia’s door.

The child lay on the bed, pale and still, lines running from her arms, breath shallow but there.

His expression eased, just slightly.

As long as Nia lived, Mira would not truly leave.

She would stay.

She had to.

Holding on to that thought, he returned to the main house.

Liora was sitting on the floor when he got there, crying into both hands.

He bent, pulled her into his arms, and let her cling to him until the sobs quieted.

That night, they still ended up in bed together.

By morning, the room stank of sweat, perfume, and dried desire.

Then someone began pounding on the door.

Hard enough to shake the hinges.

Kael yanked it open with murder already on his face.

“What?”

One of his men stood there clutching a bleeding shoulder, shaking so badly he could barely speak.

“Alpha… the dock run…”

His voice cracked.

“The men you sent never made it back.”

“When we got there, the whole place was gone. The fuel drums blew. The entire dock burned to ash.”