All Chapters of REBORN TO BREAK YOU: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

SennaI told myself I was ready. I spent a whole week telling myself that. Ready for Aela. I was in the great hall, putting out the little jars of herbs and the rolled-up scrolls for the medical consultations. Bits of my job. Important bits. It was the second time diplomats from Thornhaven were coming to Ironblood. Then she walked in.Aela. She came in ahead of everyone else. Just her, and then her guards a few paces behind. She looked around the big room. Her eyes found me where I knelt by the long table. I tried to just keep doing my work, acting like I hadn't noticed her. But I saw it. The way her face changed. Just a little. A softening. Like she wasn't mad or anything, just… surprised. And then it was gone. No one else would have seen it. But I did."You're here early," Aela said. Her voice was steady, but I felt the pull again. I picked up a pot of balm. "I'm always here when I'm supposed to be." I didn't look up, but I could feel her watching me. "Fair," she said.I put the p

SennaI saw him standing in the doorway and my heart did a little jump. I hate it when it does that. It was late in the afternoon. The sun was low. The rest of the infirmary was empty. I didn't look up for a long time. But I could feel him there. "If this is another training injury that healed itself overnight, I’m going to start charging you for the inconvenience," I said. I still didn't look up. I tried to make my voice sound bored."No injury," Caius said.His voice was deep. I looked up then. He was leaning against the wood of the doorframe. He looked relaxed, but his eyes were very sharp. He was watching me."Then why are you in my doorway?" I asked.He didn't answer right away. He walked into the room. He didn't go to the tall table where I fix people’s broken bones. He went to the small wooden chair across from my work desk. He sat down. He looked like he belonged there, which was annoying."I wanted to talk to you," he said."About what?""Nothing specific," he said. He paus

SennaMy feet are smarter than my brain today. They are taking me exactly where I am not supposed to go, and I can’t make them stop walking."Go back, Senna," I whisper to the dirt. "Just turn around and look for the herbs. You need the blue flowers for the sick boy. You don't need this."But my legs don't listen. I am forty feet past the edge of the Ironblood border and the forest starts to look different. The trees here are thick and old. They haven't been chopped down for wood or cleared for patrols. It is quiet."This is Ashveil land," I say out loud. My voice sounds small under the big trees. "I shouldn't be here. This is where the ghosts live.""You are a ghost," I tell myself. "So it's okay."I keep walking. The ground is soft with old leaves. I don't hear any birds. I don't hear any squirrels. It's like the animals know that something bad happened here a long time ago and they haven't come back yet. My body moves between two jagged rocks and under a low branch like it has done

CaiusI sat at the head of the table and waited for them to realize I wasn't joking. It took three minutes of silence for the air in the room to turn heavy. In the Ironblood pack, when I stop talking, people usually start praying."Item four on the agenda," I said. My voice was low. I didn't need to yell. I never needed to yell.Elias, the lead steward, shifted in his seat. He looked at his tablet, then at the other three men sitting around the mahogany table. "Item four is the quarterly Omega work assignment review, Alpha. Is there a budget adjustment? We were hoping to get new equipment for the kitchens.""No budget adjustment," I said. "There is a structural change.""What kind of change?" Kellan asked. He was my oldest advisor. He had served my father."From today, Omegas are no longer the default for maintenance and kitchen labor," I said. I leaned back, crossing my arms over my chest. "The mandatory menial hours are being cut by sixty percent for every Omega in this compound."T

Aela My hands shook. Just a little. Not from fear, no. I wasn't scared. But my blood felt hot, buzzing under my skin. Like something big had just finally dropped into place. Like all the pieces I’d been chasing were finally fitting.I held two things. In my left hand, the crinkly paper from Senna. In my right, a feeling. A feeling about Senna. A feeling I had been trying to pretend was just normal. That it was just about work. But it wasn’t. Not anymore.Theron walked in. His boots made soft thuds on the old wood floor. He had that careful look on his face, the one that meant he knew I was deep in thought. He didn't talk much, Theron. "Here," he said, holding out a sealed envelope. "Just came in from the north post. From Senna."I swallowed. The paper in my left hand felt even heavier then. I took the envelope. My fingers brushed his. He watched my face. "Thanks, Theron," I said. My voice was a little rough. I didn't mean for it to be. "You can go."He nodded, but he didn't leave r