Carter’s POV
Ruby stood across from me, arms folded tight around herself, eyes pinned to the thin red line I’d traced across the terrain. Her lips were chapped. Her cheeks still raw from the wind.
But she wasn’t shaking anymore.
She’d stopped shaking the minute Evie disappeared into the dark.
She’d gone quiet again,but not the fragile kind. This was different. Sharper. Intentional. Like something inside her had snapped back into place.
Not healed.
Just… steadied.
“There’s a ranger post two days northeast,” I said, kneeling by the map we’d unfolded between us. “Old, maybe abandoned. It’s off the main patrol grid. Should give us cover.”
She looked down at the spot I circled in red ink. Then looked up at me.
“That’s a long trek.”
“It is.”
Her fingers twitched slightly over the edge
