Page 71 of Salt Between the Wolves

For months she had woken beneath this roof, watched storms roll across the mountains through that window, listened to wolves laughing somewhere beyond those walls, and waited for things to change, for answers to come, and for him.

She had spent so much of her life waiting for someone else to decide her future—her father, the elders, the White Law, and even Soren, perhaps especially Soren.

At some point she had stopped noticing it and stopped questioning it, at least until now.

Eira crossed to the window.

The fortress stretched below beneath the darkness, scattered with islands of firelight.

She could see the training grounds, the great hall, and the rooftops she had come to recognize as easily as her own reflection.

For a long while she simply stood there, neither grieving nor hesitating, but remembering.

The room no longer felt like a prison, and that realization surprised her.

For months she had dreamed of escape, yet now that the moment had finally come, all she felt was sadness.

It was not because she doubted herself, because she didn't; the decision had already been made.

The sadness came from the simple fact that somewhere along the way this place had become a home—not the home she had been born into, but the one she had chosen—and that made leaving infinitely harder.

The candle eventually burned lower, and the fortress gradually fell silent as the hours passed.

Eira rested without sleeping, and by the time she rose again, the night had deepened into that strange hour before dawn when even the wind seemed reluctant to disturb the darkness.

The room lay still around her, as though waiting.

She dressed quietly, fastened her cloak, and lifted the satchel from beside the bed.

Every movement felt calm and deliberate, as though she had already crossed the threshold in her mind hours ago.

Only one thing remained.

Eira turned toward the room one final time.

Her gaze lingered on the bed, the window, the dying candle, and the walls that had sheltered her through winter.

For a few moments she simply looked before giving a small nod to herself, a farewell that needed nothing more.

She opened the door, and cold air drifted into the room from the corridor beyond.

The fortress slept in complete silence, with no voices, no footsteps, and no witnesses—only the darkness waiting outside.

Eira stepped across the threshold and pulled the door shut behind her.

For the first time in her life, no one had chosen the road ahead for her, and she stepped into the darkness anyway.

Chapter 11: Absence

Soren

Soren woke before dawn.

For several moments he remained motionless, staring into the darkness and listening to the silence of the fortress around him.

The room was cold, though not unusually so, and the mountain winters had taught him long ago to ignore discomfort.

Yet something had pulled him from sleep, and the realization lingered as he sat upright.