Meadow

nowhere, a place the locals called "No Man's Land." It was a haven for Rogues, exiles, and ev

t in the darkest corner of the town's only bar, a plac

thing that covered my scar and left only my eyes and mouth v

tting used to. I poured another shot of cheap whiskey down my throat, th

odded the silent space in my mind where she used to b

pain of the rejection had been brutal, but this was worse. This silent void felt like a part of my

had been watching me for a while. Their gaz

car across his nose, slurred. "Lonely over there? Why

wer. My silence seemed to infuriate them. They pushed their

ent eyes. No one would intervene. The only la

heavy, the only weapon I had. My spirit might be dea

nd reached for my shoulder, a wave

suffocating, a tangible pressure that settled over the room like a physical w

box sputtered and died, as if the electri

to tremble, their bodies instinctively bowing into

rfed Zane's, that dwarfed my father's. It wa

d silhouetted against the fading daylight, his fr

eating against my own heart. I couldn't see his face in the gloom, but I felt his gaze

me practically crawled back to their

ath was straight, his focus unwaverin

hing else... something I couldn't name. A strange, inexplicable stirring in my blo

blocking the dim light from the bar, plunging me i

were deep and piercing, and for a terrifying second, I felt like he could see righ

deep, ancient scent of a primeval forest, and a faint, smoky hint of something like expensive tobacco. It wa

ed the dead, stagnant

resonant rumble that vibrated through the floorboards and up into my bones. He ask

your wol