We met in the council room because that was where things that mattered got laid out. The banners from the wedding were still hanging, crimson and charcoal braided along the rafters. Someone had left a sprig of juniper on the table; it smelled like smoke and sweetness and yesterday.
“Start,” I said. Thorne sat to my right, one elbow on the chair, his face unreadable. He didn’t have to speak for me to feel him, steady heat at my shoulder, the bond humming quietly under my skin. Kody stood near the door, arms folded. Paul leaned forward with his hands braced on the table, already impatient. Jessica had her ledger of herbs. Kyle and Lucas shared a page covered in rough pencil drawings of fences and troughs. Andrew held his neat ledger like it was a delicate animal. Melinda rested both palms o
