CHAPTER 23: PREGNANCY
The wind outside howled like a wounded beast, dragging the scent of death and ash through the rogue encampment. But inside the healer’s den, it wasn’t the cold that made Vera suspicious.
She watched Rook from across the tent, half-shadowed by a moth-eaten curtain. Her arms were crossed, dark eyes narrowed beneath messy curls, a bone-blade strapped to her hip. She’d known him for years—slept in the same dirt, spilled blood under the same banners, stitched him up when others would’ve left him to rot.
But tonight?
He was acting strange.
He’d been pacing, whispering things to himself, checking on the silver-burned prisoner more often than he did the others. And when she caught him earlier—just after Kaya left—his hands were shaking.
That wasn’t like Rook.
He was qu
