The fortress felt different after the Forsaken left.
The walls seemed thinner, the shadows deeper. Warriors moved restlessly, whispering about what they had seen, about the way the cursed wolves had bowed to me. Fear clung to the air like smoke after a fire.
Kade hadn’t spoken much since we returned from the forest. He’d been silent through the war council, silent when he dismissed the scouts, silent even when the elders demanded to know what had happened.
But now, in his private chambers, that silence broke.
“You can’t trust them,” he said, his voice rough. He was pacing, muscles taut, his black shirt discarded, revealing cuts and bruises from the last battle. “They’re dangerous, Raven. They’ll use you until you’re nothing.”
I sat on the edge of the bed, watching him. “And the Counci
