Chapter 210

ANDREA’S POV The silence in the packhouse felt oppressive, like the stone walls themselves had absorbed the weight of the Full Moon Trial and now echoed it back in a muffled hush. I stood by the window in the hallway of Kade’s private floor, arms crossed, watching the moon start its slow descent behind the treeline. Its glow still clung to the world like a ghost, pale and cold. Kade hadn’t returned from the infirmary. Not since he carried her inside. Clara. Even thinking her name made something twist in my chest—not quite jealousy, not so much hate. Something bitter and unsettled. Like an infuriating itch I couldn’t reach. I’d gone to Kade’s room after the Trial. Showered. Changed. Tried to sleep. But the image of Clara writhing on the stone, her skin slick with sweat, her voice trembling as she begged me to stop, haunted me. She hadn’t lied. Not about the break-in. Not about the evidence. And yet... Something still didn’t fit. I pressed my fingers against my temples, trying to rub the