I do not look back when the gates close behind me.
The sound carries—metal meeting stone, authority sealing itself shut—but I keep walking, heels striking the path with deliberate calm. Every step away from the Dravenhart estate feels earned, scraped from the edge of exposure. My pulse is still too loud in my ears, my body too aware of the weight of eyes that had been on me moments ago.
Kaelen’s gaze lingers the longest.
I don’t need to turn to feel it. Suspicion has a temperature. It prickles between the shoulder blades, crawls along the spine, and settles in the marrow. He didn’t believe me fully; he’s too sharp for that. But he didn’t disbelieve me either, and that limbo is worse. It leaves room for questions to grow teeth. It leaves a scent for a predator to follow.
But I got out.
