Lila's POV
I stood there. Dirt still crusted on my knees. My bare feet ached from the gravel. Something in me finally snapped loose.
"Peace," I repeated. "You want to talk to me about peace."
"Lila..."
"I was kidnapped." My voice came out low. It shook. Every word cost me something to say out loud. "Sold at an auction like livestock. Bid on by men drinking wine while it happened. I scrubbed floors for a man who told me he'd cut off my head the moment I tried to run. I watched a girl die in front of me, Mom. They pierced her tongue with a silver needle. When the pain forced her into a shift, they trapped her mid-transformation with magic so she couldn't finish it. Then they slit her throat right there. On purpose. Because a body caught between forms holds its pelt whole. That's what the
