“May your ancestors watch over you,” she whispered, voice fraying under the weight of grief.
“Amatxo?” Kaixo’s voice cracked like brittle glass. “Amatxo!”
His face crumpled, and he clung to San’s tunic, sobbing into her chest as if his grief alone might wake her. His cries pierced the hush, sharp and unrelenting.
Leywani wrapped her arms around him, whispering comfort. Her solemn gaze lifted to Alena, as if asking what came next.
Alena had no answer.
Kaixo’s sobs grew louder, each cry a knife to her heart. Phoebe appeared at her side, urgency hardening her voice. “Alena. We need to move. The soldiers will search every barrack soon.”
“I…” Alena’s mouth opened, but nothing came. Her chest seized. Panic swelled.
Kaixo’s sobs drowned out Leywani’s attempts to soothe him. Phoebe’s grip tightened on Alena’s arm. The creaking walls closed in.
The air was too thick. Damp wood. Rot. The coppery tang of blood. Everything reeked of death.
“Alena!” Phoebe snapped, almost angry now. “We have to go.”
“No—we can’t—” Her voice broke. The lump in her throat strangled her. “We can’t just leave her here.”
Her heart thundered, erratic and deafening. She couldn’t think past her grief and the pounding in her skull.
She’d failed her friend in the worst possible way, and now San was dead.
It was all her fault.
She’d promised Kaixo she would save his mother, but?—
Phoebe shook her once, firm and unyielding. “Youmustleave, Alena.”
“No!” Alena wrenched away, stumbling back.
The room spun.
Sounds blurred—Kaixo sobbing, voices outside, the crackle of the dying fire. Her breath hitched. She couldn’t pull in air.
Everything pressed in on her.
Kaixo would hate her now. They all would.
And the soldiers were coming. They had to escape, but she couldn’t just leave San behind.
Not in some squalid, decrepit barrack.
Not in the place where she’d lived her final days as a slave.
She deserved so much better.
Alena’s mind reeled with memories—San stepping from the wagon in Bruna’s slave market, desperate to reach her boy. Their long morning walks through the woods, gathering herbs and mushrooms. The way she made a simple soup taste like a feast. The quiet reverence she held for Ama, the goddess she believed would keep them safe. Her final words before Alena left with Phoebe:Ama will protect us.
So why hadn’t she?
San, a kind soul who’d still smiled. Even after everything the world had taken from her.
A sob tore loose from Alena’s throat. Panic and guilt clamped around her heart. Her chest constricted, her breaths rapid and shallow until her lungs burned.
Her knees buckled, and she slid down the wall. The floor tilted. Blood roared in her ears. Her vision tunnelled.
