The first frost came like a thief, stealing what little warmth remained in the world.
Kael woke to the sound of Nymera's chattering teeth. She had curled against him again in the night, her small body trembling beneath their threadbare blanket. He pulled her closer, watching his breath curi white in the predawn dark.
Outside, the wind moaned through the cracks in the walls.
Thorne's pallet lay empty.
Kael stirred the dying embers with a stick, sending up a shower of sparks that danced briefly before vanishing into the gloom. Nymera whimpered in her sleep, her fingers clutching at his shirt.
"Just dreams," he murmured, though he knew better.
The dreams were knives in the dark.
Three winters had passed since the fever took Liora,
Three winters, and still the hut felt hollow without her laughter, without the scent of rosemary that clung to her skirts. Nymera, barely three when their mother died, remembered only fragments the way sunlight caught in Liora's hair, the lilt of a half-remembered lullaby.
"She smelled like the herb garden, didn't she?" Nymera would sometimes ask, her brow furrowed with the effort of recollection.
Kael would nod, throat tight.
Thome would drink.
The tavern had become Thorne's sanctuary.
Kael recognized the signs now the unsteady gait, the slurred curses, the way his father's hands trembled unless wrapped around a tankard. Or worse, when those same hands curled into fists after too much drink.
The first blow had fallen over spilled milk.
Kael had been splitting wood when he heard the crash the clay bowl shattering, then Nymera's sharp cry. He'd burst inside to find her standing frozen, one small hand pressed to her reddening cheek.
Thorne loomed over her, his breath sour with ale.
Kael stepped between them, his own hands balled at his sides. For a long moment, father and son stared at each other across the broken pottery. Then Thorne had turned away with a grunt, muttering about clumsy children as he staggered out the door.
That night, Kael showed Nymera the loose floorboard beneath their pallet, the hollow space just big enough for a small girl to hide. "Like a rabbit in its burrow," he whispered. "Stay there if u are ever in danger."
Some strange men came at dusk.
Three men on horses, their cloaks stiff with frozen mud. The leader dismounted, his boots sinking into the muck as he strode toward their hut
Kael saw them through the window and froze. "Hide," he hissed, shoving Nymera toward the floorboard. She scrambled. into the dark hollow without a sound.
Thorne met the men at the door, blocking the threshold. "You're early," he growled.
The lead man smiled. "You're late. Four months with no payment." He tossed a crumpled parchment at Thorne's feet. Debt.
Kael's stomach turned to stone.
Thome's voice dropped. "I need more time."
The stranger's fist moved faster than Kael could blink. It cracked against Thorne's jaw, sending him sprawling into the mud.
Kael lunged at the man, clawing at his back. Pain exploded through his skull as something hard struck his temple. The world tilted, colors bleeding at the edges.
Through the ringing in his ears, he heard a gasp.
Nymera burst from her hiding place, her small frame trembling but her voice clear. "Leave him alone!" She threw herself over Kael's body, arms spread wide.
The slaver laughed. "Brave little mouse. You'll fetch extra at Ironmarket."
"No!" Kael tried to push up, but his arms buckled. Rough hands yanked Nymera forward.
"K-Kaell" Her small hand reached for him-
Crack. A slap silenced her.
Thorne stirred in the mud. "Take me instead-"
A boot to the ribs. "You're worth less than your debts, Maltheris."
Kael's last sight before the dark swallowed him: Nymera's bare feet dragging through mud as they hauled her toward the horses. The words ironmarket and slave caravan coiled in his ears like smoke.
Snow began to fall as the hoofbeats faded.
Kael lay in the dirt, his fingers twitching toward where Nymera had stood. Above him, the ravens circled, their wings black against the bleeding sky.
Somewhere, a branch snapped under the weight of the coming storm.