(Caius)
Isla didn’t look back.
I noticed it before anything else. Not once after Ashcrest disappeared behind the trees did her attention shift over her shoulder. She kept her eyes on the road ahead, one hand steady on the reins, her posture straight in the saddle. She looked like she belonged beside me.
That mattered.
She had asked for her own horse, and I had given it to her because the request was more than a request. It was a statement, one made in front of the pack that had spent years watching her walk behind everyone else. She wasn’t leaving Ashcrest behind my back or under my protection. She was riding out beside me.
The road stretched ahead through the trees, colder now that the sun had moved lower. Zeron rode at the front with two warriors, keeping the pace even. Pryor rode b
