Chapter 17Rohene
The ride was hard, long, and empty. My ears rang with the hollow loss of her voice and laughter. Time and again I thought I heard her exuberant phrases, and turned to find nothing but leaves.
And yet I slotted raggedly back into my old life, riding alongside the others without hearing the wind or the birds. When the troops made jokes about submitting to a witch, I tasted each spiteful insult as if it were poison. Their crass remarks belittled every moment I’d shared, every kiss, and every act of kindness Marwa had bestowed upon me.
I was too sad to argue or do anything but swallow their cruelty. With every passing moment, I gave up any lingering desire to be a member of the forest clan or to be anything at all.
Nothing brought pleasure. I ate without taste and interact
