First light found Grimridge awake and watching.
The winter outer yard lay pale under a hard wash of morning, the frost on the rails and trough edges still unbroken where the early sun had not reached it yet. Pens stood half full along the west side. The training rail cut a dark line across the packed ground. Two yard carts waited near the feed shed. The outer gate stood barred and visible, not theatrically so, only enough that the whole pack could see the yard had not been left to chance. Cassian had chosen the ground and made sure Grimridge knew it. If Rowan wanted the one real window still left to her, she would have to come where the house could witness the attempt.
Sable stepped out under that sky with Cassian at her shoulder and the whole weight of the last days living honestly in her body.
