Serena
The ride home was quiet.
Ari slept with his head on my lap, soft breaths fogging the quilt pulled over his face. The roads blurred past the windows, wet with last night’s rain. Forests. Empty fields. A world moving on like nothing had happened.
But everything had.
Kael had claimed his son.
Mirah had watched it.
And the Elders—they knew now.
It was only a matter of time.
The moment we reached the edge of town, my heart began to settle. Not because I felt safe, but because I knew this place. These streets. The cracked sidewalk outside the bakery. The rusted mailbox with its crooked lid. The people who waved even when they didn’t know your name.
This wasn’t just where I hid after being thrown away.
This was where I rebuilt.
Where I became something stronger.
Our building ca
