Chapter One Hundred ThirteenHecate POVThe morning light was pale and cold, filtering through the narrow windows of the castle's lower level. The air was crisp, carrying the scent of dew and distant woodsmoke, the kind of morning that felt like a fresh start even when the weight of the past pressed heavy on your shoulders. Hecate stood in the courtyard, her arms wrapped around Tori, holding her close for what might be the last time.Tori's body was warm against hers, familiar and solid, a reminder of all the years they had spent together. The years of hiding, of running, of surviving. The years when they had been each other's only comfort, only ally, only family. The years when the world had been against them, and they had clung to each other like the last two leaves on a dying tree.Hecate had treated Tori's wounds herself, applying salves and bandages to the raw marks on her wrists where the ropes had bitten. She had healed the cuts on her ankles, the bruises on her shoulders, the
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