Alden’s POV We left the fortress behind us as the sun climbed higher, but the light did nothing to warm the road.Ash still clung to my boots, to my cloak, to my hands no matter how many times I wiped them against my trousers. Every step away from the graves felt wrong, like abandoning something unfinished, like leaving pieces of ourselves buried in the dirt with Armalen and the priest and the others whose names would never be sung.The road to the Capital stretched long and we rode in a loose formation.Rowan led at the front, straight-backed despite the way grief weighed on him. Thomas rode behind him, quieter than I’d ever known him, his usual sharp tongue dulled by loss. Hoseman brought up the rear, one hand tight on the reins, the other pressed subtly to his back.I noticed and at first, I told myself it was nothing. We were all wounded. Bruises, burns, cuts and pain had become part of breathing. But Hoseman’s movements were stiff in a way that didn’t ease with time. His jaw sta

Alden’s POV Rowan’s words lingered between us long after he finished speaking.“Some people who once took you for a fool… new people will see you as a hero.”The embers glowed faintly, breathing their last. The ruined village around us felt less like a graveyard and more like something waiting.Rowan rested his forearms on his knees, staring into the dying fire.“There is nothing more precious than life,” he said quietly after a while. “That’s why we fight not for glory or crowns and not for songs sung by drunkards in taverns.”His jaw tightened slightly.“We fight because life is fragile. Because it can be stolen in a second by monsters who think themselves gods.”His gaze drifted toward the dark houses around us.“Rip to the souls we lost,” he murmured.I bowed my head slightly.Armalen,Dutch,TrumanThe priest.The villagers.My family.And then we heard a soft sound.A single, clear note floating through the air.Rowan’s head snapped up.The note stretched into melody.A flute.Th

Alden’s POV We sprinted deeper into the ruined village with the wolves crashing behind us like a collapsing wall of teeth and fur.Stone shattered beneath their weight. Broken doors split from their hinges as they forced through houses to cut us off. Their snarls overlapped hungrily.Rowan didn’t slow.“Left!” he barked, dragging me around a narrow bend between two leaning buildings.A shadow dropped from above.I barely had time to turn before a wolf slammed into me mid-stride.The impact drove me into the ground. My head struck a stone. Stars exploded across my vision. The axe flew from my grip, skidding somewhere into the dark.The wolf landed on top of me.Its weight crushed the air from my lungs. Its claws pinned my shoulders. Its breath was hot and rancid, flecked with blood. Its jaws opened slowly, deliberately, as if savoring the moment.I pushed against its chest with my trembling arms but It didn’t budge.Its teeth lowered toward my throat but a violent crack split the air.

Hoseman’s POVI did not know how long I had been hanging there.Time had stopped meaning anything.There was only the rhythm now.Drip.Drip.That was my blood hitting a stone.My wrists were no longer wrists. They were raw meat caught in iron. Every time my weight shifted even slightly,my skin tore a little more and I had stopped trying to adjust.When they howled, when they struck, when they mocked that I could endure. Noise was easier than silence.Silence meant they were planning.A slow set of footsteps echoed across the cavern floor.The Leader stepped into my line of sight.He did not look at my wounds first.He looked at my face.“You are still here,” he said mildly.My lips were cracked. When I tried to speak, the split reopened and I tasted iron again.“Unfortunately,” I rasped.He smiled faintly.“I admire your consistency.”He circled me slowly.My back screamed when I tried to follow him with my eyes, so I let my head hang again.He stopped behind me.A single claw traced

Hoseman’s POV Pain woke me before sight did.It wasn’t sharp at first.It was deep.Like something heavy had been laid across my entire body and left there to settle into bone.Then sensation sharpened.My shoulders.My ribs.My side.The burn.I tried to inhale and the movement pulled against something inside me that was no longer aligned the way it should be. My breath came shallow and ragged. When I forced my eyes open, the cave ceiling swam above me in dim gray light.I wasn’t hanging but I wasn’t free either.My wrists were chained above my head again, though lower than before, keeping my arms stretched just enough to strain the torn muscle around my shoulders. My ankles were shackled apart. The iron collar was back around my neck.The chain attached to it ran upward and looped through a ring carved into the cave ceiling before dropping down the other side where it was fastened to the Leader’s hand.He stood several feet away.Holding it loosely.As if I were nothing more than l