Hope stirred in her chest. “You can?”
A knock sounded.
They froze, locked in a silent stare, until Roman’s voice filtered through the door. “It’s me.”
Petrina whispered, “I swear he’s watching our every move.” On Selene’s eye roll, she added, “So, he just happened to visit moments after we returned from training?”
Selene reached for dry pants. “Get dressed. I’ll see what he wants.”
Even as she said it, her stomach twisted in knots. She couldn’t think clearly when he was around.
Roman unsettled her. He was like walking into a dream she didn't trust—he looked like comfort, spoke like a friend, and yet something in her blood refused to soften.
Other times, she felt…something else. Recognition. Longing. Guilt.
As though she’d once loved him—many times, in many lives—and didn’t know what to do with the fragments that remained. The worst moments were when she missed him, though she didn’t understand why. And through it all, the guilt coiled tight in her chest like a brand.
Selene gripped the door handle and braced to face the dual reactions once again. Two breaths later, she opened the door.
Roman reclined against a wooden post on the stoop, sun catching the copper in his hair like a memory she hadn’t meant to keep. He snapped to attention with a wide smile the second she appeared. “Hello, Eva.”
“It’s Selene,” she reminded him. “What do you want, Roman?”
“She’s here, and she’s asking for you.”
There was only one “she” Selene had been waiting for: this elusive “Mother” of the Drynopian people. The one woman who could answer allher questions, but also grant them their freedom. And maybe, just maybe, explain why Selene felt like half her soul was still waiting to be claimed.
Petrina appeared in a clean tunic and pants. “Finally.”
“Only Eva,” Roman said with a nod to Selene.
“She goes nowhere without me,” Petrina said.
They’d delayed enough, and this argument could go on forever. “It’s fine,” Selene said. “I’ll be back soon and can fill you in.”
She stepped outside?—
“Wait.” Petrina twirled a blade before holding it out, hilt first. “Take this. You never know.” She punctuated her words with a lifted brow at Roman.
“She’s perfectly safe.” His dislike of Petrina couldn’t be more evident in his tone. “I would never let anything happen to her.”
“You keep saying that,” the woman countered with narrowed lids. “Funny thing, though… I don’t fucking believe you.”
“It’s not your belief or trust I’m after,” he countered.
Selene slid the blade into the empty sheath on her belt. “That’s enough.”
Roman’s mouth drew into a thin line, but he didn’t argue. He held out his hand. “Let’s go.”
She nodded for him to go ahead. “After you.”
Selene kept Roman a step ahead as they walked. He moved with the ease of someone who’d walked these paths a thousand times, his sandaled feet brushing low grass as he led her toward the river. He was all sharp lines and quiet confidence, a man who used silence as a weapon. Did he ever raise his voice? Argue? Fight for what he believed was right, regardless of who was in power?
Augustus could never stand in another’s shadow the same way.
Gods, she missed that recklessness. The way he crashed through life, loud and unafraid.
Roman reached the rope bridge, its frayed edges swaying above the narrow stretch of water below. He paused just before stepping on and turned. “Your friend’s words make you wary of me.”
