Scarlet
The circle dispersed slowly.
No one rushed forward with shackles. No decree was passed. No punishment announced. They just…stood there, staring at me like I had turned into something unrecognizable, something they didn’t have a word for yet. Even the Elders, who always seemed so sure of themselves, said nothing. Garron’s lips were pressed thin as parchment. Yara had gone rigid, her gaze cold and unreadable.
The wind died down, but the tension clung to the air like static.
When my mother stepped forward, she didn’t say anything. She just gave me a look—a quiet, protective look—and then turned to the crowd with a stern voice that brokered no argument.
“She needs rest.”
My father nodded once. “This conversation is over.”
People didn’t protest. Not yet. Not tonight. Maybe they w
