Meadow
nowhere, a place the locals called "No Man's Land." It was a haven for Rogues, exiles, and ev
t in the darkest corner of the town's only bar, a plac
thing that covered my scar and left only my eyes and mouth v
tting used to. I poured another shot of cheap whiskey down my throat, th
odded the silent space in my mind where she used to b
pain of the rejection had been brutal, but this was worse. This silent void felt like a part of my
had been watching me for a while. Their gaz
car across his nose, slurred. "Lonely over there? Why
wer. My silence seemed to infuriate them. They pushed their
ent eyes. No one would intervene. The only la
heavy, the only weapon I had. My spirit might be dea
nd reached for my shoulder, a wave
suffocating, a tangible pressure that settled over the room like a physical w
box sputtered and died, as if the electri
to tremble, their bodies instinctively bowing into
rfed Zane's, that dwarfed my father's. It wa
d silhouetted against the fading daylight, his fr
eating against my own heart. I couldn't see his face in the gloom, but I felt his gaze
me practically crawled back to their
ath was straight, his focus unwaverin
hing else... something I couldn't name. A strange, inexplicable stirring in my blo
blocking the dim light from the bar, plunging me i
were deep and piercing, and for a terrifying second, I felt like he could see righ
deep, ancient scent of a primeval forest, and a faint, smoky hint of something like expensive tobacco. It wa
ed the dead, stagnant
resonant rumble that vibrated through the floorboards and up into my bones. He ask
your wol
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