*Rory*
I stand beside Cait. She holds the bow with a quiet determination that never ceases to surprise me. Her fingers find the arrow’s nock with steady precision, drawing the string back without hesitation. The release sends the shaft zipping toward the target with a satisfying thud.
She’s not the sheltered noblewoman her mother might think she is. Cait is sharp, quick, and fiercely loyal, trading her own joy and freedom for political alliance. Cait puts her people, her family, her land, and the people who depend on her, above herself. She would’ve made a great SEAL.
I watch her and feel a pull I can’t explain, a desire to protect her, to stand beside her. But there’s the other side of me, the part that knows this time is dangerous and foreign. That knows I don’t belong here and that
