Isla’s POV
The moment the elder’s words landed—“Isla is now a member of the Crescent Moon Blackwood pack”—something inside me cracked open.
Not the dark thing. Not the voice.
Just… relief.
Real, bone-deep relief.
I didn’t have to go back.
I didn’t have to scrub Vance floors until my hands bled.
I didn’t have to sleep in the attic with the locks turned from the outside.
I didn’t have to wake up at dawn to Sera’s mocking laughter or Lady Vance’s cold orders.
I was free.
Not completely—still a servant, still under Blackwood rule—but free from them.
I walked back to my room in a daze. Soran and Cairo flanked me the entire way, silent sentinels. Neither spoke. Neither had to. Their presence was enough.
The door closed behind me.
I stood alone.
For the first time in years, truly al
