They left before the sky had fully turned, mist clinging low to the ground like something reluctant to let them pass. Amara kept close to Damian’s side, her legs still aching from the day before, her mind still turning over everything he’d told her by the fire.
“You’re quiet,” he said, not looking back.
“I’m thinking.”
“About?”
“My mother.” She hesitated. “You said that’s a conversation for later. Is later ever going to actually happen?”
His silence lasted long enough that she thought she already had her answer.
“Soon,” he said finally. “I promise.”
“You say that a lot.”
“I mean it every time.”
They walked in silence after that, the forest thickening around them, mist curling at their ankles like something alive. Amara pulled her jacket tighter, unable to shake the feeling that th
