The snow crunched under our boots as we cut back through the trees, the weight of Eryndor’s words pressing down on me like stone. Relief wasn’t what I expected to feel, but it was there, thin and brittle as glass. He hadn’t lied; he had admitted straight to my face that he had ordered Thomas killed. No dancing around it. No riddles. Just a confession, clean and sharp. And yet, the truth never came without a price. By the time Paul, Kody, and I reached the valley, my shoulders ached from the hours of walking and from the knowledge I carried. My chest hummed with restless energy, part bond, part worry. Liora’s presence was already tugging at me, pulling me home, steadying me in the only way she could. But Andrew met us at the gate with a worried look on his face. That immediately worried me.
