LOGINI hadn’t seen him since the day in the square. I’d spent the hours that followed convincing myself I’d imagined it, that grief and fear could conjure illusions just as easily as magic could. But Ruby would never lied to me. “He’s watching,” she murmured now, her voice a low hum at the back of my
Damon I told the villagers my name was Corin and that I’d come north to rest. A wolf wounded, I said. Broken ribs over a broken heart. Nothing that would keep me from riding again soon. They believed me easily enough. No one here was suspicious. No one here had reason to be. I rented a small room
When I opened my eyes again, she was standing. She looked different. Her smile was softer but distant. It was Lila. And it wasn’t. My hand tightened around the reins until the leather creaked. “Lila,” I breathed, too quiet for anyone else to hear. The name tasted like salvation. For a long time,
Damon The trail ended where the forest broke apart into a snowy clearing. I reined in my horse at the ridge, staring down at the village tucked against the trees. Small, quiet, and almost shockingly ordinary. After years of war camps and blood-soaked fields, it looked like a whole other world.
If Damon was close, he wouldn’t fine me in this storm anyway. Hours later, the village slept under a soft blanket of snow, the air had stilled with the dwindling storm. Kael had gone home hours ago, and the kids were curled against each other, safe and dreaming. I couldn’t sleep. The moment I clo
Lila The morning began like any other over the past two years. A pale sun crawled through the clouds, spilling faint light across the counter as I ground feverfew into a fine powder. The scent filled the apothecary, warm and sharp against the cold seeping through the shutters. Kael was sorting j







