---
The stronghold had never felt smaller.
Every corridor Aria walked through seemed to close in around her, every pair of eyes a reminder that she didn’t belong. The whispers followed her like a shadow, curling in her ears, poisoning her steps.
She’s not one of us.
She’ll bring ruin.
Kael’s blinded by her.
She tried to hold her head high, but the fire under her skin pulsed with every word, restless and alive. The walls weren’t just made of stone; they were made of suspicion, chains she hadn’t agreed to wear.
And the chain that weighed heaviest of all was Kael.
---
Kael had grown colder since the council. His public defense of her had been iron-clad, his dominance so sharp no wolf dared defy him openly. But in private, the space between them stretched further each night.
He gave
