The training yard was already humming - metal on metal, barked commands, the thud of boots and fists and someone swearing about a dislocated shoulder. She stepped through the yard like she hadn't vanished for a day and a half. No limp, no wince. Shoulders loose. Head high. She knew how to wear normal. Tenna spotted her almost immediately. Starling didn't bother dodging. Just made her way over, slow and easy, sidling up like this was any other morning.
Tenna's eyes flicked to her with practised suspicion. "What the fuck is going on, Star?"
Her voice was low, quiet. Starling offered a nonchalant shrug, letting her weight shift onto one hip, arms folded.
"Stuff and things," she said airily.
Tenna gave her a look. Not amused. "You've been missing. Lucanis and Viago showed up and started barking orders like they owned the place. And now Jacek and Vasha are dead."
Starling didn't flinch. "Vasha tried to kill me." She said it simply.
Tenna blinked, her mouth pressing into a thin line. "And Lucanis and Viago took vengeance for you?"
Her tone was flat. Careful, but not judgemental... yet. Starling hesitated. The truth was - yes. They had. They'd found her at Cades. Stitched her up. They'd killed for her. Then they'd cleaned the mess. Taken her home. Laid beside her.
She didn't know what to say. Not because she was ashamed - but because she didn't want the look that would come next. The one everyone used when they realised Lucanis and Viago were fucking someone new. Like it was a countdown, like they were just waiting for the fallout.
Even if they whispered to her at night - You're not temporary. This isn't temporary. Even if she half-believed them. Still, some part of her, tucked deep in her chest, hoped it was, hoped it would be temporary. Then she could slip away when she found her father. Disappear, guiltless. No chains. No promises. She had no loyalty to the Crows. No oath that meant a damn thing. She didn't care about leaving them. But she cared about being looked at like property. She cared about the way people would talk.
Starling gave Tenna the smallest of nods. Enough to confirm something happened. Not enough to invite more.
"Don't worry about it," she said. "It's handled."
Tenna didn't press, but she didn't drop it, either, just studied her like she was trying to work out what Starling wasn't saying. "You alright?"
That part was softer. Real.
Starling's jaw tightened. Then she relaxed it, forced a smirk. "Alive and full of coffee. That's the bar."
Tenna let out a short breath through her nose. Not quite a laugh, not quite approval, but she didn't push further. Starling shifted, ready to move back to the routine, back to the mask. Whatever was happening behind closed doors, it wasn't anyone else's to pick apart.
Starling glanced around the yard - half habit, half instinct. Ridge was running drills on the far side, his form too stiff, like he hadn't slept. Cade was sharpening something nearby, face blank as ever. Alis… wasn't in sight.
She turned slightly toward Tenna. "How are the others?" She asked, voice low.
Tenna gave her a look that said you should already know, but didn't say it aloud.
"Alis holding it together?"
Tenna's shoulders rose and fell. "Sort of."
Starling didn't like the sound of that.
Tenna leaned in just slightly, eyes scanning the yard before she added, quieter, "Lucanis and Viago made it very clear - if any of us look like we might talk, we're dead."
That made Starling's brows furrow, her gut knot. Shit. She didn't doubt they'd said it, didn't doubt they'd meant it, either. She could still hear the way Lucanis had said "we'll protect what's ours" like it was both a promise and a threat. But it wasn't supposed to extend to the others.
Her jaw tightened. "That wasn't part of the deal," she muttered.
Tenna raised an eyebrow. "What deal?"
Starling didn't answer. She looked away, hands flexing slightly at her sides. The wound on her back twinged beneath her shirt, the bandage tight against her ribs. Still healing. They'd killed Vasha for her, they'd made a show of protecting her, but if the cost was more blood - if the others ended up like Jacek, or worse- No. No, that wasn't what she wanted, not how she wanted this to go.
Even if she ran, even if she escaped - she didn't want to leave a trail of bodies behind her.
"I'll talk to them," she said, not quite to Tenna. More to herself.
Tenna frowned. "You sure that's a good idea?"
Starling shrugged. But Tenna wasn't finished. She reached out, catching her by the elbow, not roughly. but firm enough to stop her.
"Why are they involved at all?" Tenna asked. "How did that happen?"
Starling hesitated. Her pulse ticked once, hard, in her throat. She could lie. She could spin some story about leadership interest, about the threat level, about Viago's access or Lucanis's tactical brain. But Tenna wasn't stupid, and neither of them had time for stories.
So she shrugged. "They figured it out."
Tenna's eyes narrowed. "And why didn't they just turn us all in?"
Starling gave her a dry smile. "Because we're a valuable part of the organisation, and they recognise that?"
Tenna didn't blink.
"You've been fucking them, haven't you." Flat, completely unimpressed, razor-sharp and most definitely not a question.
Starling's breath caught for half a second before she forced her spine straight, her jaw set.
"I'm trying to keep it quiet," she said, low. "Let's watch where we say that, hm?"
Tenna didn't look smug. She didn't even look surprised. Just… tired. Like this confirmed something she'd already suspected, like it made everything make a little too much sense. Starling looked away, scanning the yard again, trying not to squirm under the weight of it. She hated this part. The scrutiny, the assumptions, the way people looked at anyone who'd ever tangled with Lucanis and Viago - as if it was always transactional.
Even if they told her otherwise, whispered it against her throat, over her scars, between her legs, she still heard the countdown ticking in everyone else's voice. She hated how quickly it made her feel small.
Tenna didn't press, but the silence between them stretched taut and sharp. Starling sighed, rubbing a hand down her face.
"It wasn't part of the plan," she muttered.
Tenna finally looked away, voice quieter now. "Nothing about this has been."
Starling nodded once. Tired, a little frustrated. Not quite ashamed but not proud either. Then she stepped back, the conversation sliding shut between them. She had to move. She needed to do something before this all twisted any further.