hadn'

war drums. Morning light bled through the curtains, soft and golden, but s

was sti

s no long

was hotter now, as if it had burrowed deeper into her bones.

himm

hin, like a vine etched with symbols she didn't understand. Last night, it

led as she touche

enough to mak

f the light. She wasn't imagining it. Something h

ped against the cold tile. In the mirror, her face was pale, lips pre

da

al

r face, then checked her reflection again. The pu

eath c

away from

stress. Maybe a hormone imbal

ught it, she could

the tap, the rustle of trees outside her window,

he sm

y sharp. The faint perfume clinging to her

ed the edge o

es were

wasn't

sn't a

was

always b

ed by fourteen. Her brother by twelve. Her mother had led hunts for the Northern bloodlines befo

ad never

ver even c

d been told to sto

d been quietly remov

reating her like she was fragil

an. Useless

il

d to cov

hin scarf, then a jacket. Still, the heat radiating

her windo

ng breeze

e the scent of

g older. Like damp soil and copper and frost. Her eye

was t

in the base

ric

le sensation o

ing into her throat, scanning

th

sil

No birdsong

and strange, like the

e walked back to her bed, sat down slo

mark puls

it wasn't

ed through her chest. It burned like a brand, shar

ash of teeth.

er head and cl

d them, she wa

in her

trem

l ma

n't go

e from her cousin asking if sh

ldn't f

he difference. She didn't know how

rcast, clouded and heavy with the threat of rain. She sat on the floo

. But no one would

But she didn't

pt pulsing like

d her out of

erate knock o

t urgent. Ju

look

was on the

ire bod

her

wed by a scrape.

ward, just enou

ark now. No s

he sa

anding at the e

mo

hing

d by her own breath, so

, cradling

at it until

ed again, the

t hadn't been

ed away, the mark on

r than

gnized whoev