Damien's POV
The gate is open when I find it. Not broken, not forced, but deliberately left ajar, just enough for the wind to whistle through the gap.
Voss is already ahead of me, nose down, certain of the direction before I am.
I close the gate behind me, I do not call for the guards, they will alarm my father.
I follow the trail into the dark for twenty minutes before I find her in the boulder clearing, she must have recently shifted back to human again, because her dress is half-tied, and scratches are covering both of her arms. She sits with her back against the roughest rock, half hidden in its shadows, as if she chose it specifically for the discomfort.
She does not look surprised to see me.
I keep my distance, hands loose on my sides. “I closed the gate before anyone else foun
