Freya

I don't remember most of the journey to camp. Snippets slip through my mind, moments I awoke atop the horse with Casimir, only to be dragged back under soon after.

The restlessness chasing me the past few days is unlike anything I've ever experienced. It aches in my bones, tugs at my eyelids. When I awake, settled on the ground against a tree at dusk, my energy feels restored, but I have no idea how much time has passed.

"You're up."

I flinch at the sudden intrusion. Sanaa moves to stand over me, her head tilted sideways. I'm surprised to see her here. The last thing I remember was being in the cave with Casimir holding me, desperately trying to reach for Killian, to know if he was real.

I stretch my legs before me, taking in the clearing behind her. The horses mew grass silently in the treeline. In the centre, bags are scattered around a small fire, smoke billowing into the dusk air. Killian kneels by its side, shifting the sticks to encourage the flames.

The sight of him, alive and well, sends a jolt through my body. He glances sideways at me as I pull my body up, the cloak thrown over me slipping to the ground. When our eyes meet, he tilts his head forward slightly before looking back to the fire.

"Where's Cas?" I ask.

"He went to the stream with Lei," Sanaa responds.

Killian rises to his feet, casually strolling towards me.

I shake my head, trying to clear it of confusion as I look at Killian once more. Remnants of Casimir's story drift back to me, of what they've been through. From nooses around their necks in Veymaw to the Elel mountains in Ereon's grasp, I can't quite grasp the final pieces of how they ended up in Dadun. How they found us.

"Here." He kneels to my level, holding a flask towards me. "You should drink something."

I meet his onyx gaze, trying to take in every single feature. His expression remains stoic, casual, unaffected as our fingers brush as I take the flask.

I think of the last time I saw him, remembering the emotion in his features as he begged me to leave him chained on the ground as the cloud approached. In Dadun, his presence hung in my dreams. But now that he stands here, in front of me, staring at me with little more than a twitch of his lip, I find myself wondering if my memories are true at all.

"Thanks," I say, my voice slightly hoarse.

His eyes shift from my face to my arm as I lift the flask to drink, my sleeve dropping to my elbow. Self-consciously, I lower my arm, trying to conceal the black markings and staring at the ground.

"You've been asleep for around a day and a half," Sanaa says. "We just stopped for a rest now that we're far enough from Dadun. How do you feel?"

"Fine."

Handing back the flask, Killian takes it wordlessly.

"What happened?" I ask.

"What do you remember?"

Before I can respond, voices waft towards us from the trees. I rise to my feet, resting briefly against the trunk of the tree as dizziness washes over me. Lei emerges from the trees first, flasks of water in her arms. Behind her, Casimir and a man I've never seen before. All three of them notice me standing, moving over to us.

"Good sleep?" Lei teases with a raised brow. There's a lightness to her that's been missing ever since we woke up in Dadun.

"We're heading to Veymaw," Casimir informs me. "Trina's waiting for us there."

"Trina?" I ask, shifting my gaze from Killian to him. "I thought..."

"Turns out we have a common enemy," the man beside Casimir says, offering me a measured glance. I take him in, feeling no familiarity. But from his movements, graceful yet obviously human, I know he is no shifter.

"Samu is safe," Killian says. "In hiding with Cadence."

I look to the ground, trying to piece together the information as Lei wanders away. The cave flashes back, the shifter, halting as I held my hand towards it, Alaric's protection...

Alaric.

I push to my feet, leaning against the tree at the wave of dizziness washing over me.

"Alaric..." I murmur, looking to Killian, both for a reaction and an answer to my question. His expression gives nothing away at the name, not even a hint of familiarity. It's a stark contrast to Alaric's reaction to any mention of Killian.

"He let us leave Dadun?" Nobody responds, shifting their gazes as I look up. My heart skips a beat in my chest at the possibility. "We have to go back for him," I say. "I think... I think he's on our side."

Casimir exchanges a glance with Killian. "Freya—"

"Lei said so herself, right, Lei?" I look to Lei for support, but she averts my gaze. "He's trying to help me. I... I didn't know if it was real but he let us go. Hana will punish him if she finds out."

"He's here, Freya," Sanaa says. "By the river with Harris."

"I need to talk to him."

He was there in the cave when the shifter charged and I held my hand to it. If it was real, my memory of what happened, he would've seen it, too.

Casimir grabs my arm, stopping me from passing. "You can't trust him, Frey."

"He let us go," I urge.

"Casimir's right," Killian says.

"I know the two of you have a past—"

"It's not about that." His eyes search my face, in that familiar way that leaves me feeling entirely exposed. I'm not sure what he finds, because as expected, his expression remains stoic.

"You don't understand. He's on our side."

Lei shoots a look at Killian, an "I told you so" look. Casimir's expression is painfully pitiful, as if I'm some misguided child led astray. I furrow my brows, pushing past him anyway.

"Freya—" Casimir tries, but I pull my arm from his grip and march in the direction of the running water. My heart hammers in my chest as I shove aside the branches, the cold seeping in as the fire grows more distant. The trickling of the water grows stronger, the stream coming into view. I halt at the shoreline, shifting my head to the side.

"Freya?"

My head darts in his direction, my first reaction relief at the sight of him alive and well, the second confusion as I take in his bound wrists, attached to the same tree as one of Hana's guards, Harris.

I move towards him, conscious of Harris' suspicious glare.

"Are you alright?" Alaric asks, shifting sideways.

I nod, kneeling at his side. "You let us go."

He reaches towards me with bound hands, taking my left arm in his and pulling the sleeve up slightly to reveal my wrist. Instinctively, I flinch backwards, but he doesn't let me go. "Do they hurt?"

"I can't feel them." I shake my head. "In the cave with that shifter... did that really happen? Did I... stop it?"

He presses his lips together, his eyes drawing over my shoulder and expression hardening. I follow his gaze. Killian and Lei have followed me, remaining at the edge of the forest.

"Why is he tied up?" I demand. "If it's because of Hana—"

"He's a mind reader, Freya," Lei fills in, her tone bitter.

I shoot my gaze to her. "What?"

"Yep." She pops the "p." "Trust me, I wanted to kill him myself when Killian told me. All this time we thought we were being secretive and he was probably reporting our exact thoughts to Hana."

"N-no." I shake my head, turning back to Alaric. His blue eyes shift from Lei to me. "Is it true?"

His touch on my wrist pulses. "Let me explain."

I pull my hand back from him, holding it to my chest. "Is it true, Alaric?"

Everything he said about trust. About understanding betrayal. I think of all the times I felt like he read me from just a glance, all the secrets I kept hidden inside my mind, afraid of Hana gaining access to them.

He opens his mouth to speak, then closes it. His lack of response is all the confirmation I need.

"You've been in my head, this whole time." Pushing shakily to my feet, I back away from him. Guilt paints his features, plain as day. "Hana was using you. To get intel from me and Lei."

"It wasn't like that—"

"You wanted me to trust you."

"I never told her anything about you that would harm either of you," he says, "I swear."

"You were reading my mind."

"I was trying to show you how to block me, all those times. Focusing on your senses, surroundings. I was trying to teach you."

"You said that was grounding."

"It's the same thing," he urges, expression growing desperate. "I never meant to hurt you. I've been trying to help—"

The rest of his words drift away as I shove back through the trees.