Page 3

Chapter 3

Saelyn

War .

I knew little of it and even less about its origins. What I did know was that it had been raging outside of Felgren my whole life, and now, I wondered if it had been raging the exact entirety of it.

I wiped the tears off my cheeks. “ Will you tell me?”

“ I’m not supposed to te?—”

“ I don’t care what they’ve told you to hide from me, Thevin . I am not a child.” I straightened my spine, squeezing his hand back. “ If I am to leave for the Spire and help save my father, I need to know all of it. Everything you know.”

“ I’m under a direct order from Baron Karus to never say a word to you about life outside of Felgren .” One side of his lips lifted and his eyes sparkled. “ Good thing I’m not very good at following orders.”

I wasn’t sure that was true. Thevin always followed the orders I’d given him since we were fifteen.

He rubbed his face, pulling a hand through his golden curls. My stomach tightened at the movement. I hadn’t forgotten what had happened between us, what had torn in his confession of his feelings and my rejection of them. And when we had danced at my party, and I’d been ready to take a risk with him? Then , he’d told me to forget all about it.

“ I can’t tell you much about how it started. Most of us don’t know.” His jaw tightened in muscle that ticked as his icy blue eyes caught mine. “ But I can tell you how it’s going.”

I suddenly wasn’t sure I wanted to know. Just by the look on his face, I knew I’d been kept ignorant to all of it for seventeen years for a reason. Was I so fragile?

My mother must have thought so.

“ I’m sorry, Thevin ,” I whispered, barely audible with the pounding of rain that continued its slew on the eaves of our hideout.

He shook his head. “ You don’t need to be sorry.”

“ But I am. I can see it in you now. You’ve been out there fighting, haven’t you?” I scoffed and pulled my knees to my chest. “ I’ve just been here. Doing nothing while my father and best friend are out there .”

“ Before I tell you about this war, Sae , there’s something you should know. Everyone else knows and you’ll find out soon enough.”

I mumbled into the tops of my knees, “ There’s nothing you can say that could shock me more than finding out my father is alive.”

“ There might be.”

I frowned.

“ This whole war is a fight over you.”