Cierra:
Natalie decided to spend the night with me after everything with Dane and Alyssa. She spent the night telling me about who I was before the rogue attack. I know she was trying to be helpful, but in the end, she only painted a picture for me of a version of myself that had been smothered, watered down, until the light in me had faded to nothing, and morning found us with just as little mercy as her stories.
Dawn carved its way across the clearing, silver and merciless. The air was sharp with frost, with judgment, with the iron tang of expectation. The fire in the trial pit burned low and steady, its smoke curling into the pale sky like a warning.
I came ready to see Dane face the weight of his betrayal. Prepared to see Alyssa falter under the edge of consequence. I had braced mys
