She couldn’t keep fighting it.
The lie was too heavy.
The brutal reality of staying alone in the freezing mountain wilderness had broken her spirit. Pressing her head into the frozen sludge, she propped her body on her elbows in a desperate, degrading plea for mercy.
"I couldn’t do it," Elowyn sobbed, her voice breaking into pitiful fragments. "I tried, but I couldn’t find anyone... but I don’t need a mate to prove myself worthy. Just let me come back. Let me have my home back. I swear I won’t be a burden! I won’t bother the tribe! I’ll stay away from everyone. You won’t even know I’m there! Please, Nysa... don’t leave me out there..."
Nysa’s light-brown wolf ears twitched atop her hair, catching every desperate tremble in Elowyn’s plea. A slow, cruel smile curled before she spat near Elowyn’s bowed head with a sharp click of her tongue.
"Why should I ever allow a shiftless leech to drag her filth back into my territory?" Nysa purred, her voice dripping with sadistic malice as she nudged the toe of her boot beneath Elowyn’s chin, forcing her to look up. "So you can crawl through the mud and spread your legs for Kaelen again?To whore your way back into a position you were never strong enough to hold? Do not lie to me.You didn’t come back cause you felt sorry for your mistakes. You came back because you are greedy. But here’s the truth, a runt remains a runt."
Tears spilled down Elowyn’s cheeks as she shook her head frantically, terror choking her throat. "No... please, I’d never do that—"
"You knew the tribal law," Nysa cut in smoothly, her voice cold and unyielding. "A shiftless female such as yourself has no place in the IronFang tribe, or anywhere up in these mountains. By crossing the boundary line, you committed treason against your Chieftainess. And now you will answer for it."
At her signal, the surrounding crowd of tribespeople burst into a bloodthirsty frenzy, their vicious roars vibrating straight through the earth.
"Throw her off the peak!"
"Banish her to the crows!"
"This shiftless whore thinks she can come back to the tribe to steal our mates!"
"The tribe is better off without you!"
Before she could even scramble backward, brutal hands locked around her elbows, snatching her up like a ragdoll. She kicked wildly against the dirt, sobbing as they dragged her toward the sheer cliff face while her people cheered and howled for her execution.
"No! Stop! Please—! I didn’t do anything! Don’t do this to me! Nysa!"
But Nysa didn’t even turn around. Her tail swayed carelessly behind her as she strolled toward Kaelen, who stood waiting with open arms and a triumphantly bright smile.
Then her eyes snapped open.
[•]
Elowyn jerked upright, a strangled cry tearing through her throat as she clawed her way back to consciousness.
Cold sweat slicked her skin as she thrashed wildly against the heavy hands pinning her arms. In her mind, the jagged abyss was only inches away, and the beastmen were hauling her toward the drop. Read the latest chapters at g.com.
"No! Let go of me! Don’t touch me!"
"Elowyn!"
The sharp, authoritative voice cut cleanly through the phantom shouts of the crowd. Her movements locked up, her breath coming fast and terrified as the illusion shattered.
Her frantic gaze slammed onto a pair of piercing golden eyes staring back down at her. The hands grounding her weren’t the brutal grip of the beastmen, but Ares’s long calloused fingers holding her steady.
"A–Ares...?"
Her heart hammered against her ribs as she scanned the dim shelter. Nysa wasn’t here. The crowd wasn’t here, but the echoes of their roars still vibrated inside her skull like a fresh wound.
Ares didn’t let go immediately, his dark lashes casting shadows across his eyes as he observed her pale, tear-streaked face. Slowly, carefully, he eased the pressure of his grip, but he didn’t leave her hand until the shuddering in her shoulders subsided.
"Are you alright?" he asked, his deep voice unusually soft.
Elowyn held his gaze for a fragile heartbeat before flinching away and ducking her head, her shoulders quivering as the warmth of the shelter finally seeped back into her senses.
It was only a nightmare.
Just a nightmare.
But the phantom cold of the cliff and the screams of her tribe still felt horrifyingly real, clinging to her skin like grease.
She buried her face in her shivering palms, pressing her fingers against her eyelids until a ragged, shuddering breath escaped her throat. When she finally dropped her hands, her dark eyes were filled with panicked apologies.
"I... I’m so sorry," she stammered, her voice small. "I must have alarmed you. Did I hit your stitches? Did I hurt you?"
Ares tilted his head, a furrow forming between his brows. "Why are you apologizing to me? Are you whole?"
Elowyn blinked, her mind stumbling over the word.
...Whole?
Was he asking if she was complete?
Hiding her confusion behind that blink, she gave a tiny, hesitant nod, though her fingers continued to tremble in her lap and her pulse raced against her ribs like a trapped bird.
Rather than pressing for answers, Ares let out a quiet sigh. It was only when he gripped the edge of the cot and forced his tall frame upright that Elowyn’s mind finally caught up. He had been down with an intense fever last night, and the sight of him supporting his weight against the wooden post just to reach the water vessel sent a jolt of alarm through her chest. She scrambled to stand.
"Sit," he commanded softly. This story is hosted at g.com.
Elowyn freezed up as the gentle weight of his order hung in the air.
"But your fever—"
"It broke," he cut in smoothly, his voice deep and steady. "Just sit there and rest."
The usual speck of arrogance in his tone wasn’t there. Submitting to his quiet persistence, she sank back onto his space and let him move at his own pace. To her surprise, his limp was far less pronounced than it had the night before, and without a stick.
He knelt beside her a moment later, extending a wooden cup filled to the brim with clear, cold water.
"Drink this."
Elowyn lifted her gaze to his face, then down to the cup. She took it with both hands and tipped it back, drinking greedily until the cup was completely empty.
"T-thank you," she stammered softly, a wave of bashful heat touching her cheeks as her head finally cleared. For someone who had been raised to believe she was a burden to everyone around her, his quiet care felt strangely disarming.
Seeing him awake and moving around looked too good to be true. Driven by raw disbelief, she lowered the cup and crawled an inch closer to him, resting her palm firmly against his brows. The oppressive, scorching heat that had radiated from his skin all night had evaporated, leaving behind his cool, natural tone.
"Is your fever truly gone?" She pressed, eyeing him suspiciously. "Or are you just hiding it from me?"
Ares stiffened slightly at her proximity, caught off guard by the bold concern shining in her eyes. Realizing what she was asking, an incredulous scoff escaped him, and he took her hand, lifting it away from his brow. "What manner of fool do you take me for?"
"You know... a typical man," she replied matter-of-factly, sitting back on her heels and folding her hands on her lap. "The hunters and warriors from my tribe threw fits whenever someone tried to tend to their wounds or give them poultices. They always insisted they were perfectly fine just to brag about how tough they were– right until they dropped dead and for my people to declare it as a noble death."
Ares stared at her in unblinking silence.
...What?
What sort of savage, backward hellhole was she raised in?
"More like fool’s death," he muttered, his tone shifting to something softer. "And I take it this... Nysa person belongs to your former tribe?"
The name struck Elowyn like a physical shockwave. Her blue eyes widened in sheer horror, color draining completely from her face.
"How... how do you know that name?"
Ares simply held her gaze, looking at her with a quiet expression that said the answer was entirely obvious.
The blood rushed in her ears as the realization crashed over her. She hadn’t just dreamed about the cliff, she had cried out in her sleep. She had bared her deepest, most humiliating trauma right in front of him. Elowyn shrank back, pulling her knees to her chest as a dark, knowing shadow settled over his features, making it painfully clear he had heard every single agonizing word.
"What did they do to you?" he asked, his deep voice stripped of all coldness, carrying a rare, unexpected gentleness that terrified her almost as much as the memory.