Selena had followed the healer into the forest to fetch so herbs. And even though though the triplet had suggested they follow them, Selena had told them not to, since they were not going far.
The sound of Selena’s footsteps soon faded into the distance, swallowed by the trees as she walked deeper into the woods with the healer.
The soft rustle of leaves and the distant call of birds were the only signs that life still moved around them.
Kael stood with his arms crossed, watching the direction she had gone, his jaw tight.
Ronan leaned against a nearby tree, his gaze lowered, thoughtful.
Edris remained still, seated on a fallen log, his eyes distant as though he were already sowhere else in his mind.
For a while, none of them spoke.
Then Kael exhaled sharply.
"When are we going to tell her?"
Edris did not look up. "Tell her what?"
Kael turned to him, irritation flickering across his face. "Don’t do that. You know exactly what I an."
Silence stretched for a mont.
Ronan lifted his head slightly, his attention shifting between them.
Kael stepped closer. "She’s been looking for us. For the truth. For the ones who were banished." His voice dropped, more serious now. "For us."
Edris finally looked at him.
"I know."
"Then why are we still hiding it?" Kael pressed. "She deserves to know. She trusts us. She’s already telling us everything."
Edris held his gaze for a long mont before answering.
"I have thought about it," he said quietly. "More than once."
Kael frowned. "Then what is stopping you?"
Edris leaned forward slightly, resting his forearms on his knees. His expression was calm, but there was weight behind it.
"Silas."
The na settled between them like sothing heavy.
Kael’s expression darkened imdiately. "What about him?"
Edris’s voice remained steady. "He is still in the picture. Still holding power in the pack. Still controlling what people believe."
Ronan nodded slowly, understanding forming in his eyes.
"If we tell her now," Edris continued, "we don’t know how she will take it. Not fully. Not with everything else she is already carrying."
Kael scoffed lightly. "You think she can’t handle it?"
"That’s not what I said."
Edris’s tone didn’t rise, but it sharpened slightly.
"I think she might misunderstand our intentions. Yes, we did not attack her but she was attacked on that day by soone." he went on. "And I am not sure adding this... now... would help her. Not while she is preparing to face him."
Kael ran a hand through his hair, restless. "Or maybe it would help her. Maybe it would give her more reason to fight him."
"Or break sothing in her we cannot fix," Edris replied.
That quieted him.
Ronan straightened from the tree, stepping closer to them.
"I agree with Edris," he said.
Kael glanced at him. "You too?"
Ronan nodded once. "We have lived with this for years. She is only just learning the truth about Silas. About everything." His voice lowered slightly. "Let her deal with that first."
Kael exhaled, frustration still there, but less sharp now.
Ronan continued, his gaze drifting briefly in the direction Selena had gone.
"Besides... even without telling her, I have always believed there was more to what happened to us."
Edris’s eyes flicked toward him. "You an the accusation."
Ronan nodded. "We were banished for trying to kill the princess." His jaw tightened slightly. "A cri we never committed."
Kael’s expression hardened at the mory. "They didn’t even give us a chance to defend ourselves."
"They didn’t want to," Ronan said simply.
There was no anger in his voice. Just certainty.
Edris leaned back slightly, his gaze distant again.
"From what I could gather when we went back to the pack," he said slowly, "our parents were supposed to be rewarded."
Kael frowned. "Rewarded?"
"With land," Edris said. "A vast portion of it. Compensation for their years of service as warriors."
Ronan’s brows drew together. "I never heard that."
"Because it never happened," Edris replied.
Silence followed.
"They died before it could," he added.
Kael’s eyes narrowed. "In battle."
"Yes," Edris said. "That’s what we were told."
Ronan let out a slow breath. "You don’t believe that."
Edris t his gaze.
"No."
The word was quiet. Firm.
"I think their deaths were arranged," he continued. "And I think whoever did it had no intention of letting us live long enough to claim what was ant for them."
Kael’s posture stiffened. "You think we were next."
"I know we were."
Ronan’s expression darkened, sothing colder settling into his eyes.
"That would explain it," he murmured.
Kael glanced at him. "Explain what?"
Ronan pushed off the tree completely now, stepping closer.
"After we were banished," he said, "do you rember what happened?"
Kael frowned slightly, thinking.
Edris’s gaze sharpened.
Ronan continued, his voice lower now.
"The hunts."
Recognition flickered across Kael’s face.
"...The warriors," he said slowly.
Ronan nodded. "They weren’t just looking for rogues. They were killing males."
Edris’s expression turned grim.
"In our age range," Ronan added.
Silence fell heavily between them.
Kael let out a quiet curse under his breath. "You think that was connected to us?"
"I think it was too specific to be coincidence," Ronan said.
Edris nodded once. "It fits."
Kael’s jaw tightened. "So they kill our parents. Fra us for trying to kill the princess. Banish us. Then send warriors to clean up what’s left."
"Exactly," Ronan said.
Kael let out a harsh breath, pacing a step before stopping.
"And all of that... just for land?" he asked.
Edris’s gaze darkened slightly.
"Not just land," he said. "Power. Control. Removing anyone who might challenge it."
Ronan’s eyes flickered. "And we were easy targets once we were alone."
Kael shook his head slowly, anger simring beneath the surface.
"And Selena has no idea," he muttered.
Edris looked toward the trees again, his expression unreadable.
"Not yet. And even though Silas father is our top suspect. We have no prove yet to tie him to the cri."
A quiet settled over them again, heavier this ti.
Kael exhaled slowly. "She deserves the truth."
"She will have it," Edris said.
Kael glanced at him. "When?"
Edris’s voice was calm. Certain.
"When we are certain of what happened that day and who was behind it."
Ronan nodded in agreent.
"That is when everything cos to light," he said. "Not before."
Kael was quiet for a mont.
Then he gave a small nod, though the tension in him had not fully faded.
"...Fine," he said. "But when that mont cos, we don’t hold anything back."
Edris t his gaze. "We won’t."
Ronan crossed his arms, his eyes moving once more toward the direction Selena had gone.
"And when she finds out," he added quietly, "she’ll finally know who really stood by her... even when she didn’t rember us."
The words lingered in the air.
Unspoken truths.
Old wounds.
And a future that was slowly, dangerously, beginning to take shape.
Sowhere deeper in the woods, a branch snapped softly.
All three of them stilled.
"She’s coming back," Kael said under his breath.
Edris rose to his feet.
Ronan straightened.
And just like that, whatever they had been monts ago... disappeared.
Replaced by the n Selena knew.
For now.
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