Akin

Maerilee approaches me with a tension in her step that I don’t miss. Her shoulders are squared, her expression guarded, and there’s a fire in her eyes that instantly puts me on alert.

“There you are,” I call out happily, hoping to break the tension a bit. “I was wondering where you’d run off to.”

“Akin,” she says, her voice calm but with an edge I’ve rarely heard before. “We need to talk.”

My stomach drops. I’m suddenly afraid of what she might say. Our relationship has always been easy and light. Though I yearned for her in so many secret ways, there was never such a high wall...