Chapter 23 The Wrong Choice Made Willingly
I should have stayed in my room. That was the sensible choice. The safe one. The one Luntian would have chosen for me if she’d known what was coiling in my chest like a living thing. But the forest had taken my sense of caution along with my strength. And Kael had taken the rest. I followed him. Not openly. Not boldly. I wasn’t strong enough for either. I moved slowly through the covered walkways, keeping to the shadows, my steps uneven, my breath too shallow. He was with Isara. Of course he was. Their voices drifted ahead of me—hers light, measured, carrying that practiced gentleness that made elders soften and men listen. His voice was lower, controlled, giving nothing away. It shouldn’t have mattered. It did. I stopped when they reached the pavilion by the northern wall—the o
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