“I’m not yours to rescue.” I pause, letting the silence and my thoughts settle before continuing. “You’ve all offered me help and I won’t forget that.”
My gaze brushes over each of them in turn. “But you look at me like I’m breakable. Like I need to be kept and protected from everything in this world.”
My fingers curl slightly at my sides as I take a breath.
“I’m not blind to the kindness you’ve offered, but I need you to see me now. Really see me.” I gesture gently to the ruin around me, the split stone, the broken vines, the silence in the earth. “This came from me and I’m still standing.”
I draw in a slow breath.
“I can save myself.”
I don’t wait for them to speak and see what apologies or excuses they’ll offer now.
Instead, I step lightly to the edge of my stone circle, where the broken edges drop in a wide crack. Then I bend my knees and leap. It’s not graceful or powerful like any of the guys would be, but it’s mine. My boots land solidly on the far edge of the crumbled floor, scattering grit as I straighten and brush a lock of hair from my cheek.
I turn just enough to glance at them as I approach the field, finding four kings still frozen by the fault lines I left behind.
“You should get back to your meeting,” I say, voice low but steady. “Figure out your war, your alliances…whatever it is you need from each other.”
I let the quiet settle a breath before adding, “I’ll be outside. Figuring out my own path forward.”
And with that, I walk forward. Thefield stretches ahead, dew-drenched and gold-touched, rising in soft tufts that brush my calves as I cross into it.
A breeze rolls through the grass, and with it, relief. Open air. No walls to close in. No voices pressing too closely.
Behind me, silence reigns for just a moment too long until Sylvin’s familiar cadence breaks it with an audible, exaggerated sigh.
I tell myself not to turn and watch, but I can’t help my curiosity of how they’ll respond to my departure.
Will they honor my words?
“Well, if the earth-shattering has concluded,” he drawls, dusting off the remaining debris from his sleeves like he’s offended by the dirt, “shall we continue this meeting of uncooperative monarchs?”
Riven makes a low sound that could be amusement, murder, or anything in between. It’s hard to tell with him.
Azyric says nothing, but his shadows slither up one of the broken columns, like it’s trying to keep an eye on me.
“Ilyria risked herself to deliver that proposal to the fae,” Torryn says from behind a broken wall, having shifted back to his human form. “If you care about the fragile peace we keep saying we want, Sylvin, you’ll sign the damned thing.”
“And you need to stop ignoring the skirmishes near your borders, Riven. If your coven keeps attackingmy scouts, we’re going to have a bigger problem to worry about. We cannot be divided amongst ourselves and united against our foe.”
A semblance of peace descends in my mind, hearing them focusing on matters that don’t involve me. Their voices fade as I settle into the tall grass at the edge of the field. The sunlight slips through the thinning canopy above, warming my skin as the wind carries the scent of crushed flowers and rain-damp earth.
I reach for a small cluster of wildflowers–white, soft, barely clinging to their stems. I twist the stems between my fingers.
The image from the evening before, of the golden threads and the scenes they held, come rushing back.
Azyric and Sylvin, at each other’s throats over that proposal, exactly the way it occurred just moments ago.
I glance down at my hands, dusted with dirt and seeped with a power I don’t understand. The earth answered me, but why?
My thoughts roam without direction and no answers as the sun travels a path high into the sky above me.
I don’t know how much time has passed before a soft rustle sounds at my side, jostling me.
I look up just in time to see a massive wolf slip through the tall grass with quiet purpose.Torryn.Hisfur is a deep, earthy brown, dappled with lighter markings that catch the light. His golden eyes meet mine as he pauses, as if asking if he can approach.
I nod softly and he continues forward. He doesn’t shift to try to talk. He simply circles once before settling beside me with a grunt, his flank pressing into my side and providing a steady warmth.
