Xavier told me I could come back home but Luca, bent at the hip, now eye to eye, offered me a cold smile once he was gone and delivered a firm command: "You will stay within Northern Tribe Territory. You will obey Eos."
Frozen in place, I'd watched him leave the healing center, flinching at the feeling of the Chieftain's hand as it pressed to my shoulder. "Xavier said I could go home." Turning, I took in the Chieftains apologetic expression and felt a trill of panic as I realized Luca was gone, that Xavier had no way of knowing what had just transpired here. Would they tell him that I chose to stay here? Would he come back for me? "I belong to Xavier," I insisted. "Not Luca. Xavier. I belong--"
"Xavier doesn't keep slaves," Chieftain Eos stated calmly.
"I'm not . . . that's no
