NORA POV
Kalen didn’t sleep that first night.
Neither did I.
He curled up against my chest in the tent, flinching every time the wind howled through the trees. He didn’t cry. Not once. But I could feel it—the weight of whatever he’d been through settling behind his eyes like stormclouds.
I stroked his hair and whispered stories from a life we never had. A future we could still build.
And when dawn finally came, he whispered, “Do I get to stay with you?”
I blinked back the burn in my eyes.
“Yes,” I said. “Always.”
But I didn’t know if that was true.
Because an hour later, the Summit sent their emissary.
REYA POV
She looked like royalty.
Tall, golden-haired, wrapped in velvet and venom. Her name was Maris, and she walked into camp like she owned it.
She didn’t even glance at N
