We have a pack to heal, and that’s not going to be done simply by having fixed the council.
I tear off a small piece of meat and lift it toward Archie,who doesn’t bother to go to his seat near Marius. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep you fed, King Archibald.”
He accepts the offering delicately, curling tighter around my neck as he chews. “Thank you, Princess RoRo.”
I snort at the memory of the nickname I gave myself when we used to have tea parties together. Ones where I did all the talking because I thought he was a normal animal. Now, I can’t imagine him any other way.
“Now, it’s Team RoCa,” Liz adds with a chuckle.
Cade glances at me with a confused look. “Do I want to know?”
“It’s your couple name,” Liz offers before I can. “You can thank me later.”
Something tells me that will never happen.
Still, Cade watches the interaction with a fondness he doesn’t seem to try hard to hide, his hand settling over my knee under the table.
For a while, conversation stays light as we begin to eat.
Liz tells us about a failed patrol rotation from earlier that somehow ended with Stephanie waist-deep in a creek and swearing vengeance on a squirrel. Elias adds just enough commentary to make it clear Liz is omitting several key details. Iris laughs so hard she has to dab at her eyes with a napkin.
Even Marius cracks a smile.
It feels surreal—this pocket of warmth and laughter after everything we’ve survived.
Except it’s hard to keep my thoughts from drifting.
And Cade notices even when I do my best to hide the intrusive thoughts.
“What’s wrong?” he asks quietly, but with insistence.
I wave him off. “Tonight’s not the night. We’ll talk about it tomorrow.”
He stares harder, clearly not going to let this go, and now we’ve attracted the attention of the whole table.
“There was someone there,” I finally say. “At Malrik’s castle.”
The table stills—not abruptly, but attentively.
“A woman,” I continue. “She wasn’t working for him, I don’t think. I’m not even sure she understood what she was tangled up in, but…” I shake my head. “Sitting here with you all, being grateful for my family, I can’t stop thinking about how I left her behind when I escaped. About how many others might also be trapped there?”
Cade’s hand tightens reassuringly over my knee. “We’ll make sure they’re safe.”
No hesitation. No qualifiers.
Liz nods. “People like Malrik don’t care who gets crushed underfoot. Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t.”
Elias inclines his head. “If there’s a way to extract them, we’ll find it.”
“Right before we burn that place to the ground,” Cade replies with a growl.
Iris’s expression turns solemn, but she keeps her thoughts to herself.
Relief loosens something inside me. Not because there’s a plan yet, but because I’m not alone in the wanting or the caring.
“We’ll make all of this right,” Cade murmurs, meeting my gaze.
I nod. “I know.”
