he sound of birdsong, her body stiff from sleeping on the cold ground, her mind foggy with exhaustion and grief. For a moment, she

t against the pain of it. The great hall. The rejection. The walk through the dark

uly, completely,

face streaked with the remnants of last night's tears. She must look like a wild thing, she thought with a humorles

journey to one of the neighboring kingdoms. But where would she go? She had no connections, no references, no pack to vouch for her. Any Alpha who lear

ore thoroughly than any brand could have, declaring to the entire

quiet. "Feeling sorry for yourself won't change anything. You need t

day at a time, until the days turned into weeks, the weeks into months, the months into year

y direction, a vast wilderness of trees and shadows that seemed to go on forever. She had no map, no compass, no idea which direction

ction at random

underbrush. Aria tried to appreciate its beauty, to find some small comfort in the world around her, but

hands and savoring its sweetness. Her feet were blistered and bleeding, her stomach empty and growling, but sh

rnoon when she

were made of rough-hewn logs, the roof covered in moss and fallen leaves. It looked abandone

t. The door hung crooked on its hinges, and she pushed it o

ll, a stone fireplace against another. There was a table, two chairs, and shelves that had once held s

r. And right now, shelter was mor

h pine needles to make a mattress for the bed frame. By nightfall, the cabin was habitable, if not comfor

s to keep out the cold. She had a place to

wasn't the life she had d

nd berries, to build a fire that would keep her warm through the cold nights. She was clumsy at first, making mistakes

y, she caught h

o. She had never killed anything before, had never needed to. In the castle, food had always appeared as if

was food, and the forest did not ca

her fire, and when she took her first bite of meat she had provided for herself, something shifted inside her.

meals. But it was hers, earned through her own effo

herself to feel something other than despair. It wasn't hope, exactly. It was too early for hope

oice when he had declared her unworthy. She waited for the pain to come, for the grief to overwhelm her again,

ge

ew better than divine wisdom, cast her out like garbage because she didn't meet his standards? Who was he to deci

pered in her mind. He had the power to do

r sides. "I have never been nothing. I was just, I was just waiting. Waiting for the ri

in the middle of nowhere? A reject cast out by the only man who had ever been fated to want her?

s the determination to keep going, to keep surviving, to

maybe, that wa

venings. She learned the patterns of the forest, the habits of its creatures, the secrets of its plants and streams. She grew stronger, h

who had knelt before Damien Blackmoor, trembling and hopeful and desperately eager to please, was fading away, rep

too. Something she didn't understand, something t

she thought it was just the physical exertion of her new life, her body responding to the demands she was plac

up inside her. Something that had

the practical concerns of her daily life. But the warmth persisted, growi

watching the flames dance and flicker, the w

a

ough her veins, consuming her from the inside out. Aria screamed, falling to the fl

r even imagined that such pain was possible. It was as if her very bones were breaking, her musc

the haze of agony,

A voice that spoke directly to her soul, an

e whispered. "At la