Ruby’s POV
By morning, the storm had passed.
The air smelled like pine needles and damp earth, like the Wildlands had wrung themselves out and were waiting to see who was still standing.
I was.
Barely.
I leaned on the counter in the little cabin kitchen, if you could even call it that,watching the rainwater drip from the edge of the roof outside. My ankle was sore. My ribs still ached. My entire body felt like it had been stitched together with thread that might snap at any second.
But I was upright.
Breathing.
Alive.
And Carter… was somewhere behind me.
He’d woken early, earlier than me,and slipped out to check the area around the cabin. I hadn’t even heard him leave.
Not that I’d slept much. My body had rested, sure, but my brain hadn’t stopped spinning. Especially not after l
