The Things Left Unsaid
1005 Words
Fear.
Real fear.
I'd never seen it on Mara's face before.
Not when rogues attacked.
Not when warriors staggered through her door bleeding.
Not when sickness swept through Beaumont and every bed in the den was full.
But it was there now.
Looking back at me from across the room.
And suddenly the storage room felt too small.
Too quiet.
Too full of secrets.
My fingers tightened around the damaged letter.
Especially Aria...
The words refused to leave my mind.
Mara took one slow breath.
Then another.
Like she was trying to decide something.
A battle played across her face.
One I'd never noticed before.
Not because it had never been there.
Because I'd never been looking.
The rain hammered steadily against the roof.
Neither of us moved.
I could hear my own heartbeat.
Feel it.
Heavy against my ribs.
The letter trembled slightly in my hands.
"Mara..."
Her eyes found mine.
"What does 'the star' mean?"
She closed her eyes.
Just for a second.
When she opened them again, they looked older.
"I can't."
The words landed harder than I expected.
"You can."
"I can't."
"You know."
Silence.
"You do know."
"I do."
The admission stole the breath from my lungs.
"You've known all this time?"
She nodded once.
Pain flickered across her face.
"I promised."
"To who?"
Another silence.
I was beginning to hate silence.
"Your mother."
The room spun.
My knees suddenly felt weak.
"My mother made you promise?"
"Yes."
"To keep secrets from me?"
"To keep you alive."
I stared at her.
The words didn't make sense.
They refused to fit together.
"What does that even mean?"
Mara looked toward the front of the den.
Voices echoed faintly.
The wounded were arriving.
Time was slipping away.
She knew it.
So did I.
She looked back at me.
"If I tell you before it's time..."
Her voice cracked.
"...I may be the one who gets you killed."
Every hair on my arms stood up.
Killed?
The word settled inside me like ice.
I laughed.
A short, disbelieving sound.
"That's ridiculous."
"I wish it were."
The certainty in her voice made the laugh die in my throat.
"Mara..."
"I have lived with this promise for nineteen years."
Her hands trembled.
"I have questioned it every single day."
She swallowed hard.
"But I gave my word."
Anger flared inside me.
Hot.
Sharp.
"You watched me grow up not knowing who I am."
"I watched you grow up alive."
"I deserved the truth."
"You deserved a future."
The words collided between us.
Neither of us spoke.
Rain filled the silence.
Then—
A crash echoed from the front room.
Voices.
Shouting.
"Mara!"
Another voice joined the first.
"We need you now!"
Mara squeezed her eyes shut.
For one heartbeat, I thought she might ignore them.
She didn't.
Duty won.
It always did.
She crossed the room in three quick steps.
Before she reached the doorway, she stopped.
Without turning around, she said quietly,
"If I could choose between keeping my promise..."
She paused.
"...and keeping you..."
My chest tightened.
"I would choose you every time."
Then she was gone.
I stood alone in the storage room.
Still clutching the letter.
Still surrounded by questions.
Alive.
The word echoed inside my head.
To keep you alive.
Killed.
Future.
Promise.
Nothing made sense anymore.
I folded the letter carefully.
Far more carefully than before.
As though protecting it somehow brought me closer to my mother.
I tucked it safely inside my cloak.
Then I took a slow breath and stepped into the main room.
Chaos had already swallowed the den.
Warriors crowded the entrance.
Rainwater pooled across the wooden floor.
The smell hit me first.
Blood.
Wet fur.
Mud.
Pine.
Fear.
Three wounded warriors occupied the nearest beds.
Another sat slumped against the wall while Mara stitched a deep gash across his shoulder.
Two more healers from the village had arrived to help.
Everyone was moving.
Talking.
Calling for bandages.
Hot water.
Needles.
More hands.
I didn't hesitate.
I grabbed clean cloths.
Started boiling more water.
Passed jars of salve to Mara before she asked.
Wrapped fresh bandages.
Held a young warrior still while another healer reset his wrist.
Work.
Work always gave my mind somewhere to hide.
Until the front door burst open again.
Four warriors stumbled inside carrying another wolf between them.
He was covered in blood.
Most of it wasn't his.
His breathing came in shallow, ragged gasps.
One eye had swollen shut.
Deep claw marks carved across his chest.
"Easy!"
Mara pointed toward the largest bed.
"Lay him here."
The warriors obeyed immediately.
As they lowered him onto the mattress, his head rolled toward me.
My breath caught.
His face looked familiar.
Not because I knew him.
Because I had seen him before.
Near the eastern woods.
Watching.
Just for a moment.
Days ago.
His eyes fluttered open.
Clouded.
Unfocused.
Then...
They found me.
Everything else disappeared.
The room.
The shouting.
The rain.
His gaze sharpened.
Confusion crossed his battered face.
Then disbelief.
His lips parted.
"No..."
Barely a whisper.
His hand lifted weakly toward me.
Shaking.
Impossible.
"You..."
The room grew strangely quiet.
Not because anyone had stopped working.
Because every instinct inside me suddenly screamed that something was wrong.
Very wrong.
His fingers trembled.
His swollen lips moved again.
This time, I heard the words clearly.
"The star..."
Every sound in the room stopped existing.
Mara froze.
The cloth in her hands slipped to the floor.
One of the warriors frowned.
"What did he say?"
The rogue wasn't looking at anyone else.
Only me.
His eyes widened with something that looked almost like wonder.
"They told us..."
He coughed violently.
Blood stained his lips.
"...they told us you were dead."
Then his eyes rolled back.
His body went limp.
The room erupted into motion again.
"Mara!"
"He's crashing!"
"More pressure!"
"Healer!"
Everyone rushed toward the bed.
Everyone except me.
I couldn't move.
Couldn't breathe.
Couldn't think.
One sentence echoed over and over inside my mind.
They told us you were dead.
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