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A howl reverberated around the battlefield, a far-off, eerie scream that caused anxiety to rise. It was no ordinary howl. There was urgency about it, a warning encased in despair.

Thalia halted in her tracks. Her hands tightened on the dagger's hilt as a cold went through her veins. The palace was the source of the sound. It was enough to make her instincts tense.

Ryker's golden gaze darkened beside her. He whispered, "That wasn't one of our wolves."

Thalia gave a nod. She sensed that something wasn't right.

Killian stood stiff behind them, his face white under the blood and muck. His eyes darted to the far-off palace, then returned abruptly to her. However, since she turned away, she hadn't given him another look, and the stillness weighed on him like an insurmountable load.

All of the things he wanted to say and the knowledge that none of it would matter anymore filled the vast gap between them.

Then, in a tone tinged with laughter, Elias shattered the quiet with a soft murmur. "Interesting, isn't it?" they thought. "History repeats itself in the most predictable ways, but the past cries out to be rewritten."

At last Thalia's gaze shifted to them. "What is that history?"

Elias's smile remained unwavering. "Men in a desperate attempt to recover what they have lost." They looked at Killian, knowing and unreadable.

Killian's mouth clenched. His voice was raspy as he continued, "I didn't lose her." "They took her away from me."

Before she could stop it, Thalia let out a piercing laugh. "Taken?" she repeated, unable to believe it. Her eyes were flaming with a mixture of disbelief and laughter as she turned to face him fully now. You allowed them to harm me in this way. You allowed them to take away everything from me, including my life, freedom, and dignity.

Killian had a bob in his throat. "I—"

"You observed," she added in a quiet but firm voice. "You didn't do anything."

At his sides, his fingers twitched. Thalia, I was blind. Now I can see it.

Her unblinking eyes penetrated him. "And I don't care anymore."

There was a break in his expression. He had been ready for rage, wrath, anything but this unwavering, unrelenting apathy.

Elias listened to the conversation quietly, then resumed his conversation. With a tone that bordered on admiration, they whispered, "This is what I mean." "Killian, haven't you already seen it?"

Killian scowled as he turned to face them. "What have you seen?"

"That she no longer needs retribution." Elias grinned slowly and purposefully. "There is absolutely nothing that she needs from you."

Killian took a short inhale as the words hit him like a physical assault.

since they were correct.

He wasn't staring at a woman who demanded justice or payment from him for the first time.

He was staring at a victorious woman.

And no punishment could compare to that fate.

Without saying another word, Thalia moved away after maintaining eye contact for a few moment longer.

Ryker took a stride toward her, his body firm and confident. "We must relocate."

She gave a single nod, looking straight ahead. "All right, let's go."

However, Killian also moved as soon as she did, just enough for his fingers to touch her wrist. An hesitancy, a desperate effort to cling to something that had long since escaped his grip.

She didn't flinch at all.

She only paused, lowered her eyes to the spot where his fingers lingered close to her flesh, and then slowly raised her head to meet his.

Killian felt chilly all over again under the weight of her gaze.

It was like staring at an unfamiliar person.

Or worse, like staring at a person who never needed him at all.

Thalia let out a quiet sigh. "Avoid the error of believing that you can still touch what you left behind."

Killian didn't try again, but his fingers curled into a fist.

From the forests outside the ruins came a rustling sound. There was a slight change in the atmosphere, but it was clear that someone was approaching.

When three figures appeared from the treeline, Ryker was the first to respond, taking a protective stride in front of Thalia. Their motions were controlled and precise, and they were dressed in black, travel-wear. These soldiers weren't your typical ones. These were emissaries with training.

A few feet distant, their leader, a woman with inscrutable gaze and piercing emerald eyes, came to a halt.

She looked at Elias, Killian, Thalia, and Ryker. Then she said something.

"You have been sent by the Queen."

Quiet.

Thalia's heartbeat accelerated. "The Queen?"

The woman gave one nod. "You must be present. Right away.

Ryker's posture tensed, but his countenance remained unreadable. "Why?"

The woman glanced across at Thalia. "Because you aren't yet over the past."

With a steady heartbeat, Thalia met her gaze. She might have been frightened by such a summons once.

No more.

She tipped her chin slightly and took one step forward. "Which Queen?"

The woman made a small curvature of her lips. "The person who can recall."

Something flickered between them, but Elias whistled softly before Thalia could react. They looked at Thalia and muttered, "Well, well." "It appears that a very significant person has taken notice of you."

Thalia's gaze remained fixed on the emissary. "Why now?"

The woman's eyes became piercing. "Because things are changing." Her gaze darted across to the burned-out remains of the battleground. "And because you have changed from who you were."

An unsaid truth began to solidify in Thalia's chest as a result of something in her tone.

She was not the end of the past.

Not quite yet.

And Thalia was confident of one thing as the breeze carried the smell of something alien, something far away but dangerously near.

This was not the end of it.

By no means.

She raised her chin, straightened her back, and spoke with a determined tone.

"Then take the lead."

After giving one nod, the envoy abruptly turned and vanished into the trees.

After a brief moment of hesitation, Ryker stepped into Thalia's place. "Are you certain of this?"

Thalia let out a breath when her fingers brushed her dagger's hilt.

"No," she said.

However, she had never in her life been more certain of anything.

\---

A voice screamed out behind them as they entered the forest's darkness.

Raw, low, and desperate.

"Thalia."

For a second, she halted.

Killian's voice had lost its typical haughtiness and was now hoarse. "Refrain from leaving."

The words hung between them, fragile and heavy.

She turned her head slowly, slowly enough to look over her shoulder.

And the finality of it all, the expression in her eyes, was like a dagger to Killian's heart.

"You could never keep me."

Without saying anything else, she vanished into the trees.

Leaving Killian standing there alone himself, surrounded only by the rubble of what he had himself demolished.

And he realized what it was really like to lose for the first time in his life.