I froze.
Fingers brushed the carved wood, worn smooth with time.
I remembered the day he gave it to me.
Finn.
We’d been together a year. A full year since he’d ‘found’ me. He said it was my birthday. We didn’t have anything—no cake, no money, not even real names.
But he carved me this.
My wolf.
My first gift.
I stared at it for a moment longer. Then slowly tucked it back beneath my shirt, hidden from view.
Out of sight. Where it couldn’t hurt me.
I dressed simply—pants, a shirt, boots that still carried dust from somewhere else. Somewhere that felt more like me.
The halls were too bright.
Colours leapt from the tapestries, from the stained-glass windows, from the polished stone. Everything here gleamed like a place untouched by grief.
I followed the patterns in the tiles down to the carved wooden staircase, head low.
A few servants passed me in the corridor, nodding with too-gentle smiles.
“Good morning, Miss Elira.”
“How are you today, Miss Elira?”
I pulled in tighter. Arms crossed. Shoulders drawn.
I didn’t answer.
I wasn’t angry at them. I just didn’t know how to answer them.
I slipped into the kitchen.
Slade was already there—seated quietly at the table like he'd been waiting.
He didn’t say a word, but he’d set a place. A plate of warm food.
Our eyes met. He simply gestured to the chair.
I nodded once and sat.
My hand found the spoon without thinking. I brought food to my mouth and swallowed.
What it was, I couldn’t say. Everything tasted like ash.
I pushed the food around my plate, more out of habit than hunger.
The clack of heels on polished stone broke the stillness.
I didn’t need to look up to know it was her.
