FREYA
I sat stiffly in the chair opposite Killian’s desk, my palms pressed against my knees, trying to appear calm though my heart was thudding like a drum inside my chest. His gaze was steady… fixed on me, and it unnerved me more than I wanted to admit.
“So,” he said, his voice low, “why don’t you start by telling me your name?”
My lips parted, but no sound came. A thousand thoughts crashed against one another inside my head. Was it safe to give him my name? Would it trigger recognition? If anyone here knew where I came from, what then?
When I didn’t answer right away, Killian leaned back in his chair, watching me with the patience of someone who knew silence was its own weapon.
He tried again. “And what were you doing out there? Alone in the woods in the middle of the night?”
Still
