Morning light filtered through the tall windows, catching on the dust motes dancing lazily in the air. I hadn’t meant to wake so early, but the quiet made my thoughts louder, and I found myself restless. Somehow, or maybe deliberately, Grabber had checked in on me earlier than usual, and seeing that I was up, insisted that I come with him for some sort of “morning briefing” that he claimed was necessary. The truth was obvious: he wanted to keep me close, under his watchful eye, and I hated that I knew it.

  Bagel had curled into a tight ball at my feet, unbothered by the change in atmosphere, but I could feel her presence as much as I could feel Grabber’s. Grabber leaned casually against the edge of the fire, eyes scanning the papers in front of him, or so it looked, but I knew better. Every so often, his gaze flicked up, just enough to catch mine. That small movement was enough to set my nerves on edge.

  The others had already moved on with their tasks elsewhere, leaving the two of us alone in the slightly larger room, the air thick with unspoken rules. Every tick of the clock seemed louder than it had any right to be, each one a reminder that I was trapped in this strange, dangerous orbit.

  I was done sitting quietly, pretending not to notice. The whispers, the secrets, the half-truths, they were mine to uncover. I leaned back in my chair, arms crossed, and fixed Grabber with a steady stare.

  “You never tell anyone anything,” I said, voice sharp. “Not even the others. Why? What aren’t you telling me?”

  His jaw tightened. The way he breathed through his nose told me he was calculating the moment to snap. But he didn’t. Not yet.

  “I tell you only what matters,” he said, voice low. “What you need to survive.”

  “Survive? Is that all I am? Just another piece in your collection?” My words were carefully measured, but the bite was real.

  He stepped closer. Every movement was deliberate, controlled. “You are… not like the others. You are important.”

  I could feel the heat from his presence, the way the room seemed smaller, tighter, pressing in from all sides. My pulse quickened, not entirely from fear, though fear was there, but from the sharp edge of challenge in his tone. He wasn’t just questioning me; he was testing me, measuring how far he could push before I broke, and how far I was willing to push back.

  I shifted slightly, hands tightening on the arms of the chair as Bagel gave my leg a reassuring nudge. I drew a slow breath, reminding myself that I was not helpless, that I had answers, secrets, leverage… even if I didn’t know exactly how much.

  My gaze didn’t waver from his. There was a weight behind it, a challenge that matched his own. “You’re measuring me,” I said softly, almost to myself, but loud enough for him to hear. “Trying to see how far I’ll let you go… or maybe how far I’ll make you go.”

  He didn’t flinch, didn’t react, but the faint tightening around his jaw betrayed a flicker of something, interest, irritation, maybe both. The space between us seemed charged, each second stretching longer, taut like a drawn bowstring.

  I tilted my head. “So you’re going to check for yourself?”

  He leaned just a fraction closer, voice low, deliberate, almost teasing in its danger. “I could just bite you right now,” he said, eyes flicking to the hollow at your neck, “see if my mark sticks to your pretty little neck. Wouldn’t take long to know… and you’d be powerless to stop it.”

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  What the hell?

  The tension in the room spiked, but before he could say anything more, Bagel leapt onto my lap, claws extended, fur bristling. A soft growl rumbled in her chest, warning him off.

  I exhaled, partly to calm myself, partly to steady Bagel. Grabber’s eyes flicked to her, then back to me. That restraint, the effort to pull back, made my stomach twist. He could lose control, and I could be so, so very wrong for testing him.

  “You think this is a game,” he said quietly, voice barely above a growl. “Don’t push me.”

  I didn’t back down, but I didn’t push further. Instead, I watched him, studied the muscles in his shoulders, the tension in his hands. He cared, that much was clear. About me. About Bagel. And maybe… more than he would admit.

  The moment passed. He stepped back, leaving the room quieter than before, heavier than before. I sank into the chair, pulling Bagel close. My heart was still racing.

  I stayed that way for a while, letting my mind spin through the half-answers I’d collected so far.

  Minutes later, there was a soft knock. Thorne stepped in, holding a steaming mug. “Hot chocolate,” he said casually, like it was the most normal thing in the world. “It looks like I have good timing, you look like you could use one.”

  I blinked at him, momentarily disarmed. He set the cup down, sat on the edge of a nearby chair, and gave me a small, genuine smile. “You’re stubborn,” he said. “I like that. But you don’t have to be alone all the time.”

  The warmth of the hot chocolate and the simplicity of his words made me relax slightly. Bagel purred against my chest, and for a moment, the tension in the room melted.

  “I don’t need anyone,” I muttered, though my fingers tightened around the mug.

  “You think you don’t,” he replied gently. “But everyone needs someone. Even the unmarked.”

  I glared, but there was no bite in it. Just observation. Just truth.

  Thorne leaned back, eyes narrowing as he studied me, weighing how much to reveal. “We’re… careful,” he said, voice low, almost casual, but his gaze was sharp. “Not reckless. There are rules here, lines we don’t cross lightly. You might think you’ve seen restraint…” He paused, letting the words hang. “…but there are things even I can’t predict.”

  I frowned, sipping the hot chocolate. “Lines for what?”

  He let his gaze drift toward the door where Grabber had gone, voice low and measured. “It’s not something we take lightly. Every action has weight. Every choice has consequences. What you see as control… it’s a careful balance between protection, duty, and… necessity. Crossing the wrong line can cost more than you think.”

  The words made my stomach twist. I knew I was different. I had been careful, hidden.

  I looked down at Bagel curled in my lap. Protecting her wasn’t just about me anymore. It was about the storm I could feel coming. Something bigger than all of us.

  “You’re thinking too much,” Thorne said, half teasing, half serious. “But it’s good. You need to understand before you act. Knowledge is… safety. Sometimes.”

  I swallowed, feeling the weight of his words sink in. I realized that everything I’d learned, the marked ones, the rules, the hints of fear, was all part of a system I didn’t fully grasp yet. And my small acts of defiance weren’t just rebellion. They were dangerous, because I was poking at something that had been carefully contained for generations.

  Bagel purred louder, nudging me, and I realized I had to act. I couldn’t stay in the dark, not anymore. I had to understand, to move, to survive.

  Thorne’s gaze lingered on me, a smirk beginning playing at the corner of his mouth. “Who knows,” he said lightly, almost a whisper, “maybe you’d even enjoy being marked.”

  I looked away as the fire continued to crackle. Bagel’s purring filled the silence. I continued sipping the hot chocolate, letting the warmth settle in my chest, while my mind raced.

  Grabber had left, but his presence lingered like a shadow. I knew this: he was watching, weighing, deciding. They all were. Every moment with him and the others taught me more about their world, about the dangers I faced, and about what I needed to do next.

  And I wasn’t going to wait for permission to act.

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  Blood magic, ancient secrets, and a conspiracy to plunge the country into a war between people and forest spirits - she never imagined her rite of passage would result in any of these.

  Fia was eagerly awaiting her Bonding ritual with a forest spirit, as everyone in her family had done for generations, but everything turned into a nightmare in a flash. Terrifying otherworldly creatures appeared out of nowhere and attacked their village. When all seemed lost, a stranger and his magic horse came to the villagers’ rescue, but the victory left him hanging between life and death.

  Trying at once to find a cure for the cursed hero and fend off his annoying magical horse, Fia found herself caught in the crossfire of a grand, bloody game of politics and magic.

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