RICI

pen and stepped into the room. The air around him smelled metallic - anger made human. I patted the mattress twice, a small

shoulders hunched like a man bent under weather

y," he muttered. "He struck

ed - the hearth's hum, the distant clink of cutlery. "You sold my si

against the wall with such force that the breath left me like something taken and dropped. For a momen

whispering. Everything I'd built - compromises and

at as law. "You're here to support

taps swallowed into the silence. Then, mercifully, he let go

embling. I felt hollow, as if the center of me - my taste for power, my appetite for control -

t would make me important would s

owns into trunks, slid letters into pockets, tucked combs into folds of silk. Each fold wa

packing I might finish being the person who had stayed silent while my siste

as on h

moment I thought it a trick - a new manipulation - but his head bowed, not s

gan, but he cut in,

s securing the pack. I thought-God, Tricia, I thought I could buy safety. Besides, you saw what she did at the party. Who knows what else she's c

d up, fingers trembling, and touched the place his palm had burne

all shake of his shoulders, the way light made his eyes look younger

I said at last, voice small and raw.

a coward, thinking I could do what was necessary in the dark while still calling mys

cut him open. He rose awkwardly, and for a moment

et. Outside, wind kept time with the trees. "Why?" I asked because I needed the w

use. I thought I was protecting the pack. I was wrong

ade to belong. I thought of the way men like Blake wear duty like armor while the people inside

said. "You were supposed to be bette

n't argue duty into oblivion. "Tell m

your rival without starting a war that will c

e reached f

ves bound in ways that refused to be neatly cleaved apart. He lifted me and drew me c

forehead. "I will fix this," he promised. "Words are not enou

it carry me. His confession softened something inside the rigid shell I'

k of prayer. I forgave, but not fully. Doubt sett

ty braided with threat. I knew, with the stubborn certainty of someone who had loved and

of choosing. For now we were bound by vows and mistakes; later the truth would have a voice. Until then, we would learn, or unlearn, ourselves.

unaware the news I'd receive