The image came unbidden; towering cliffs carved with ancient markings, the heavy scent of smoke and iron, the echo of wings beating across a sky that belonged to dragons and dragons alone.
Home. No. Not home, it had never felt like home… more like a prison. Her tail flicked to the side as she remembered her father’s voice, cold and immovable.
“It is decided.”
A marriage. An alliance. Pretty much acage that had been dressed up so beautifully as duty.
Her mother, silent beside him, offering nothing but approval, not that she ever did anything else. She lived and breathed for my father’s approval.
Edith’s chest tightened, fear threading through the memory. She had been trapped, been given zero choice, so she had decided to run.
The memory surged within her, wind, panic, freedom, terror, all tangled together as she fled into the unknown, choosing anything over the life they had planned for her.
And she had ran and hid, then decided to shift and instead of her usual form, she had made herself invisible… small and forgettable.
It had worked for a while, at least. Just long enough to find Jessica, and long enough to build something new. Something real. A real home with people that loved her for her and not the bloodline she could provide.
Her gaze flicked toward the distant lights of Krakens Hole, just beginning to glow against the darkening sky. Her home… the word still felt fragile. Precious and yet dangerous.
Because now… now there were hunters in her town. And they knew how to find what was hidden. Edith curled in slightly, her wings pulling in close.
If they’re here for me…
The thought didn’t finish. It didn’t need to. Because she knew exactly what it meant.
Not just for her, but for everyone she cared about. A faint tremor ran through her and made her tremble slightly.
“I’m not going back,” she whispered, the words steady even as fear coiled tighter in her chest. “I’m not,” she repeated with more strength in her tone. As if in response, the waves seemed to crash against the shore a little louder.
She would not return to them. And definitely not to that life.
But staying came with its own cons… staying wouldn’t be as simple as she wanted it to be.
Another wave crashed against the rocks, even louder now, as if echoing the storm building inside her, the tide turning and the wind picking up. Edith lifted her head, eyes narrowing slightly as something new settled beneath the fear.
Resolve.
“They don’t get to take this from me,” she said quietly, steel behind her words.
Not this place, nor these people, and definitely not the life she had chosen.
Her tail flicked once, sharp and decisive. But even as determination steadied her, the fear didn’t leave. Because she knew those hunters, she had briefly seen them do other jobs for her father, and she knew what they were capable of.
And if they had come all this way… they most certainly wouldn’t leave empty handed.
Edith took one last look at the sea before pushing herself to her feet.
“Right,” she muttered, forcing a lighter tone that didn’t quite reach her chest. “No point sitting out here dramatically brooding while potential doom lurks in the pub.” A pause. “That sounded worse out loud.”
With a small huff, she turned toward the path leading back to Krakens Hollow, the warm glow of lights pulling her forward.
Toward safety. Toward whatever came next.
And this time… she couldn’t pretend the past wasn’t coming for her.
2
Spencer didn’t likeplaces that felt too alive, and Krakens Hole did not help his mood.
