Emma's POV
The news comes at breakfast.
Ellie drops into the seat across from me and says it excitingly, the way she says most things: "Lucian left Red Claw yesterday. Heading east. Intelligence says he's following a false lead in the border territories."
I put my cup down carefully.
"How long?"
"A week. Maybe three." She watches me. "Long enough to breathe."
I breathe.
It comes out longer than it has in days. Slower. The exhale that's been waiting to happen finally happening. My shoulders drop without my permission and I stare at the table for a moment and just—let the absence of that particular threat settle into my body.
He's gone. Temporarily. He'll come back—I know he'll come back, I'm not naive enough to think this is over. But right now there are miles between us, and this m
