ALDRIC
I went back to where I had left her beneath the leaves and earth, and I made the grave deeper. Not deep enough to hide her forever, but deep enough to buy time. Enough time to let the pieces I had set in motion do their work. Enough time to get far away before anyone started asking the right questions.
I had smoothed the dirt carefully and covered it with fresh leaves, making it look like nothing more than a patch of disturbed ground in a forest full of disturbed ground. If someone found it, they would find it. But it would not be today. It would not be this week.
And by the time they did, I would be gone. Or so I thought.
"I cannot just sit here," Cian said, his voice cutting through my thoughts. "I need to join them. I need to scour the place myself."
I blinked and refocused on the room. Morrigan sat across from me, her tea forgotten. Fia had gone still beside Cian, her hand resting on his arm in a way that was meant to be grounding.
