Chapter 194

Selena noticed it first. Her eyes flicked past Kaia, past Caleb, to the guards who stood at ease instead of attention. No spears lowered. No ritual challenge demanded. Just space—deliberate and strange.

“You’re not afraid I’ll burn something down?” Selena asked lightly.

A few wolves stiffened.

Kaia didn’t. “If you wanted to,” she said, “you wouldn’t have asked to be seen.”

Selena’s mouth twitched. “That obvious?”

“To someone who’s been ...