Arden's /Aria's POV
The ashes were cold, a dark smear on the stone—a funeral for my last shred of innocence. The fear had been real, a visceral, animal thing that curled in my belly like a sickened child, but it was gone now, burned away in that small fire, leaving something else in its wake: a clear, cold purpose. Kai’s shoulder against mine was a bastion, a wall of warmth and steady breath. His silence was not helpless; it was profound. It was the quiet of a deep river running swift and strong beside me. We sat in the moonlit dark, not as protector and protected, but as two pillars holding up the same trembling sky.
“He wants me afraid,” I said, the words tasting of iron and resolve. “He wants me small and panicked, to make a mistake, to run, so he can catch me.” I looked at our joine
