Return of the Nameless Alpha
Ash pulls his shoulders back, and for one breath he looks less like a seven-year-old and more like the small soldier she's raised him to be, which guts her every single time she sees it happen.
"What if they ask my name and I forget the fake one?" Sage's fingers worry the seam of her sleeve, picking at a loose thread until it starts to unravel.
"You won't forget." Wren reaches back without looking and finds her daughter's knee, gives it one firm squeeze. "You're Sage Warden. Say it until it feels boring."
"Sage Warden." A beat. "Sage Warden. That's a dumb name."
"It's the name that keeps you breathing," Wren says, and something in her tone finally lands, because Sage stops arguing and stares