But today, he wouldn’t be alone.
He heard her before he saw her—the soft crunch of boots over uneven ground, the rhythm of someone trying not to hurry.
When he looked up, Reiya was weaving her way toward him from the direction of the market, steps cautious at first, then gathering purpose with every stride.
The breeze teased at her hair, dark strands lifting before tumbling down her back in loose waves.
“You’re prompt,” Alarik said, one brow lifting.
Her lips curved in a small smile. “I’ve been looking forward to this all day. Ru Rong sent me away early because I couldn’t sit still.”
A faint smirk tugged at his mouth. “No trouble at the stall today?”
She shook her head, sending the wind chasing the flyaway strands.
“Kaelen was there most of the time after you left.”
He nodded. They’d been taking turns lingering near the stall, keeping a careful eye on the Xians—and on her. So far, no bounty-minded mercenaries were sniffing around.
No sign of Castiel Vaelmont either.
Alarik’s jaw tightened. Castiel was a Beta. It should’ve meant less danger, not more. But the wrong kind of Beta could still do damage—especially one who wrapped ambition in tenderness and made fear feel like a choice.
Castiel hadn’t overpowered Reiya with strength. He’d crept into her doubts, twined himself through the cracks she tried to pretend weren’t there. And now he’d disappeared, laying low, vanished into the cracks he’d created and left them wondering about his plans.
Alarik’s gaze drifted back to her—the faint bruises at her throat, already fading, the stubborn lift of her chin against the wind. She moved like the worst was behind her, but he saw the tension running just beneath her skin—tight, unfinished, sharp.
Maybe that was why she wanted to learn to fight. Not to erase what had happened. Not to prove anything to anyone. But because somewhere deep down, she knew: next time, it might be the difference between survival and silence.
He tilted his head toward the archery target. “Ready?”
“I think so.” She straightened, but the nerves in her stance didn’t escape him.
Alarik extended the bow to her. Their fingers brushed as she took it, the contact brief but enough to stir him—a quiet awareness of the contrast between them. Her hand, delicate yet steady, looked almost fragile against the weight of the weapon.
She held out the bow, testing its heft. The first feel of it made her sway, but she dug in her heels and steadied herself, brows drawing together in concentration.
“It’s heavier than I thought.”
“This bow was made in Elloryn. Their weapons aren’t made to be temporary tools. They’re made to stand the test of time.”
Elloryn was a kingdom renowned across Issoirea for its unparalleled weapon makers. Their craftsmanship wasn’t just skill—it wasartistry, refined over generations. To an Elloryn smith, steel and wood were sacred. A blade from their forges was sharp and perfectly balanced, a whisper of death in the right hands. Their bows, carved from the finest heartwood and reinforced with near-unbreakable sinew, were often heirlooms, built to endure long after their wielders were gone.
He watched as Reiya’s fingers traced the faint carvings along the limbs—patterns of waves and stars woven together in intricate, unbroken lines.
“It’s beautiful,” she murmured, reverence threading through her voice. “Do the carvings mean something?”
He nodded. “Every bow crafted in Elloryn tells a story. This one stands for balance. The waves and stars symbolize finding strength in both chaos and stillness. It reminded me of the kind of strength I wanted to have.”
Reiya’s fingers brushed over the carvings again, slower this time, as if sensing the unspoken significance they carried. “It’s like a piece of who you are.”
Alarik’s eyes flicked to hers, and she held his gaze.
“That’s the thing about weapons,” he said. “They’re extensions of us. They carry our choices, our mistakes.”
He saw how her grip tightened, a faint frown drawing between her brows. She looked quite solemn just then, as though they were going to war instead of an amateur archery practice.
“Then I’d better make sure my choices are worth carrying,” she said.
