“Understatement,” Jace mutters.
Theo moves to the window, pulls the curtain aside. His brow furrows.
“What?” I ask.
“Nothing,” he says after a beat. “Just making sure we weren’t followed.”
But the way he says it makes my chest tighten.
“Theo.”
He glances back. Something flickers in his eyes I can’t quite read.
“We should rest,” he says. “Like Zira said.”
I want to push. Want to ask what he’s not saying.
But I’m so tired. We all are.
As we file out and follow Zira’s directions upstairs, Seth stays close. His presence is grounding in a way I don’t entirely understand yet.
At the top of the stairs, Thane catches my arm gently. “You did well,” he says quietly. “Telling her.”
I meet his eyes. The hunger’s still there, but so is something else.
Respect.
“Get some rest,” he says. “We’ll need you sharp tomorrow.”
I nod, turning toward the room Zira pointed out. Then pause.
“Thane?”
“Yeah?”
“Stay with me?”
His eyes darken slightly. “Always.”
As I step into the small room, Thane right behind me, I can’t shake the feeling that whatever’s coming, it’s already closer than we think.
Chapter 25
Thane
The door closes behind us.
For a moment, neither of us moves. The room is small—stone walls, a narrow bed, moonlight cutting silver across the floor through the gap in the curtains.
Bree stands near the center, arms wrapped around herself. Not defensive. Just holding on.
I stay by the door because if I get closer right now, I’m not sure what happens.
My throat works against the hunger clawing up from my chest—sharp, relentless, alive with want that’s not just hunger anymore. It’s need, raw and undeniable, threading through every instinct I’ve spent centuries learning to control.
She’s here. Real. Not Riley’s polished edges and manufactured certainty, not the version that wore her face and tried to let me feed while my hunger turned sour in my mouth.
This is her.
