Rivalry and roses

mother's confession when her phone buz

ally awake,

. No more puzzles

alo

the screen. Her pulse

ere closing in, but this-this felt like a door

pulling his shoulders tight. "Do

t hum she'd ignored for too long-tol

, her voice steadier than she expected. "

, but he didn't argue.

flickering city lights distant, like a memory she could no longer touch

eted, voice almost s

, though her chest tightened at the

You never were. You've always been the one w

erself, anger warring with a

the threats? Why the riddle

I wasn't hunting you, Mina. I was preparing you. The fox's heir is alway

hed. "You scare

d dangerous like velvet on

n the city's edge-overgrown, forgotten, but somehow untouched. The moonlight dripped

maps. Photographs. Pieces of a

ce, as though he was afraid one wrong word would shat

forcing her walls to st

he was deciding how muc

the Order destroyed my family, he took me in. He taught

photograph

standing beside her grandfather, bot

hispered, the betrayal still sharp

told you the truth, you would've trusted me. And trust would've

it was easy? Scaring you? Watching you hate me? Every step

led, heavy a

h?" she asked, and for the first time, the

mother didn't. She thought I'd drag you into the same war that kil

"She knew? Abo

ll in love with your father, but the Order doesn't forgive. She's been

d, the web pulling

iah?" she

ou. But he chose you. He's loyal-to you-not them. I pushed him away because I ne

So you weren't tryin

was trying to make sure you'd s

hone

er me

wn Nu

you play l

line end

Littl

orn black notebook from his jacket-the last journal of her g

now. His fight

w, deliberate, his warmth

low and steady, m

ina. I never was. I've

time, she di

uch didn't feel like a tri

lectric humming in the space b

ing da

gh that she could feel the pull, the gravity between them. "I've been

ght of the war. The weight

Mina didn't fe

e she never wa

voice quiet but unshaken. "The

arp and lethal, but this ti

'd never ask

ead brushing hers, his breath w

t

didn't

ome. The fight

, Mina knew exactly wh

blurred into s

always three steps ahead,

g anymore-they were

scrawled in her grand

er ear, teaching her how to see traps, how to brea

ught she kne

city that wanted her dead, the brush of Beomgyu's hand steady

ows-separate, but always

er most wasn'

idn't want to run

-

ht. One

l, the walls breathing cold air around them, the hum

ilent, but hi

ed around her knees, the weight of t

she whispered. "What

ated-somethin

s a leader in the Order now. Someone worse than the old gu

stuttere

und the answer like i

fath