Kael's POV (HOW RILEY KNEW ABOUT HER MOTHER'S DEATH)
The guest tent stank of damp canvas and low-burning peat—cold, bitter, the kind of smell that clung to your skin like regret. I'd ordered the fire kept small, the furs thin, the chains just long enough for her to pace but not reach the flap. Mercy wasn't the point. Control was.
I pushed the flap aside, letting it fall heavy behind me. The two guards outside—Torin and Grim—mdidn't move. They knew better than to follow. This was mine. Always had been.
Selene sat on the low cot, back straight, silver-blonde braid coiled over one shoulder like a serpent. The leather cuffs around her wrists were linked to a chain bolted to the center post—enough slack to stand, to sit, to think about every mistake that had led her here. Her pale eyes lifted when I entered, cool and amused, like she was the one holding the blade.
"Kael." Her voice was silk over steel. "Took you long enough. I was starting to think you'd forgotten about me."
