FREYA
I do not see Eli for three days.
He is at the council building. He is at the borders. He sleeps somewhere I do not ask about. Esme tells me on the second morning that Victoria and Martin have been to the lake house with him. I drink my tea and I do not ask which lake house, because I know which one. It is the one we were married in.
I do not let it touch me.
I have a patrol to ride.
I check the gear in my room every morning. I take the tonic at dawn and at dusk. I run through Papa's old breath drills before sleep, the slow ones, the ones that do not strain the belly.
By the time the sun goes down on the third evening I am already on the gravel of the staging lot with my gear strapped on and my hands quiet at my sides.
I have not been in this lot in five years.
It looks the s
