Chloe’s pov
I leaned heavily against the wooden fence at the edge of the kitchen garden, the biting autumn wind cutting straight through my woolen shawl.
Down in the dark, damp soil, the silver-leafed stalks of blue mint lay limp and blackened. The frost had settled over the beds two nights ago, but it wasn't the cold that had destroyed them. The roots were dry, crushed under heavy boot heels, the delicate leaves snapped off and ground straight into the mud.
My throat tightened, a sharp, bitter ache expanding behind my ribs as I looked down at the ruined patch.
I’d risked walking into the western border valley at night for those seeds. I’d taken a silver blade across my arm, suffered through Fernando's cold stone cell, and lied to Nash to protect our pack from an all-out war—all so I c
