Morning light spilled across my ceiling in soft golden bands. For a moment, waking was like surfacing through warm water — slow, muted, hazy. But then I remembered where I was.
My own bedroom.
My own locked door.
I hadn’t gone down to Varion’s bed last night. I’d turned the key in my own lock with shaking fingers and pressed my back against the wood until my heartbeat slowed.
And I’d stayed there.
Alone.
Now, I lay staring at the ceiling, a strange mix of betrayal and sadness heavy in my chest. Varion had promised me safety, love, a place at his side. But the part of me that still had a backbone, that still belonged to the girl I’d been before coming into Nyxryn, was screaming at me that love alone wasn’t enough. Not here. Not in this place of wolves, and maybe soon enough...war.
