ELLIE’S POV
It was mid-morning at the training ground.
“We need to talk,” Beta Dane’s voice cut through the murmurs like a honed blade as he stepped toward me.
My hands curled tighter around the staff I held at my side. I stiffened, breath catching.
Beta Dane paused just a few paces away and stared at me. His lips twitched, not quite a smile. “You’re the girl who killed her parents.”
My heart slammed against my ribs. I whimpered, fingers turning white around the wood. The yard fell silent, as if the wind itself was holding its breath.
I flinched, retreating a small step. The phrase echoed in my mind: “You’re the girl who killed her parents.”
When the words repeated in my head like a cruel mantra, I heard my own voice, tiny and ashamed: “I didn’t mean to…”
My whisper was barely a br
