Unstable Bonds
The packhouse kept vigil that night, restless and tense. Even after the Council meeting concluded, suspicion and fear clung to every corridor like smoke trapped beneath stone.
Warriors took turns patrolling, their footsteps echoing with urgency.
Guards stood sentinel at every entrance, voices whispering commands that carried urgency. The walls seemed to breathe fear.
Inside that atmosphere of dread, Katelyn sat alone.
Her room was shrouded in darkness, save for the pale moonlight spilling through the balcony doors.
She curled near the bed's edge, clutching Natalie’s old journal—It's unopened pages, a silent reminder that her life never truly belonged to her.
Not her name, not her past, not even her future.
Outside, the forest stretched endlessly beneath the cold,
