After their conversation, the rest of the day slid into a heavy silence.Maraya said nothing more — not a word, not a complaint.
She only rode with her head bowed, her eyes locked on the trampled road beneath her horse's hooves, as if the stones and dust were more worthy of her attention than the world around her.
Torghan rode beside her, his hands tightening around the reins more than once. Guilt gnawed at the edges of his mind. He was no brute, nor did he take pleasure in breaking his sister's spirit. But in his heart he knew — he knew — that this burden had to be borne.
Their tribe's place in this new land hung by a thread, and this union was the knot that could hold it fast.If he had to play the villain to secure their future, then so be it.
And so they rode, until, at last, the familiar walls of Yarzat rose before them — a sight that stole the breath from their lungs even after all these weeks.
