No one spoke against Castian.
A test. Chyrstal mused. I’ve passed it. But…this shifter could have killed me. Three, maybe even two more moves, and I would be dead. But then…so would Castian.
Even if he could not fight in my stead, he couldn’t let me die. Not here. Not today.
But even at that…he could have let them hurt me. My father…Darius…if it had been the other way around…they would have –
She stopped herself from thinking. Her gaze had drifted sideways as her mind had run. The rogue group was moving away, into the trees.
Her feet had followed, even as her mind had been elsewhere.
She glanced around, then at the rogues ahead of her as they strode through the brush, barely breaking any branches, hardly leaving any prints.
They cast glances at her randomly as they moved. The way th
