(Bardolph POV)
The smoke cleared from my courtyard long after Daciana vanished into the western woods, but her absence remained like a wound with teeth.
I stood near the broken gate while warriors searched the trees, knowing they would find nothing except the shame we deserved.
Hrolf shouted orders behind me, calling Conri a thief and Daciana a traitor who had planned everything from the beginning.
Every word he spoke sounded too clean now, too ready, too polished by a man who had rehearsed disasters before they arrived.
Farkas had been chained near the platform after helping her escape, yet he watched me with no fear in his old eyes.
“You should thank the moon she reached him before your pack reached her throat,” Farkas said, spitting blood onto the stone.
I turned toward him slowl
