AMARANTA POV
We needed air after that. And not only because we both were a bit overwhelmed by my family. We needed space and actual air, something that didn’t taste like smoke and old magic and whatever the hell my brother had turned into when he lost control in that room.
So we left.
No dramatic exit, no one stopping us, no one even asking where we were going, because everyone was too busy pretending they hadn’t just watched their dead leader almost tear the house apart, and me stopping him. That would have meant they acknowledged I was strong enough to compete with him. That I was good at something. Never going to happen.
Garrett—God—Garrett didn’t say a word, didn’t question it, didn’t push, just followed me out like it was the most natural thing in the world, like if I moved, he m
