“I didn’t get thechoice,” I snapped. “You and Liora made it for me.”
“Isavedyou from that!” he shouted. “From breaking completely. You think you’d be standing here if we hadn’t wiped it away?”
“You didn’t save me,” I said. “You stole from me. My history. My truth. I understandwhyyou did it, but that doesn’t make it right.”
Finn stepped back, his face pale. “So what, then? What do you feel?”
I met his eyes.
“Violated,” I said quietly. “You didn’t just take memories, Finn. You tookme. You rewrote who I was. And I don’t know how I’m supposed to move past that.”
“Elle…” he breathed. “I’m sorry, I—”
A knock interrupted him. Jasper stood outside the bars, his expression apologetic but firm.
“Sorry, Elle. I need to move you back. Mother won’t like you being in here.”
“Fine,” I said, clipped and cold.
“Please, Elle, stay—” Finn reached out.
“Back in the corner, Finn,” Jasper cut in with a sigh, already unlocking the door.
I rose as it creaked open, spine straight, face unreadable.
Finn’s hand caught mine.
I didn’t yank away.
Iunwoundmyself from his grip—quiet, deliberate.
And I didn’t look back.
**
I’d been back in my cell for maybe an hour when I first heard it—the muffled roar of voices rising from outside. Distant at first. Then swelling. Cheers. Laughter. Chanting.
Celebration.
I stood and crossed to the bars, gripping them as I called down the corridor.
“Jasper?”
He looked up from his post at the far end, unfazed.
“What’s going on?”
He leaned back in his chair with a sigh. “Everyone’s celebrating.”
I felt the cold curl of unease slither into my chest. “Why?”
He hesitated—just long enough to confirm what my gut already knew.
“Because,” he said, expression unreadable, “we just nabbed ourselves a lion shifter.”
The air left my lungs.
Jasper nodded toward the arena. “Fights are about to get interesting.”
