EMBER’S POV

She sags back against the wall, and for a long moment, I think she isn’t going to respond. I think my entire confession meant absolutely nothing because her mind was already made up. I start to believe this was all completely pointless.

But then she finally meets my eyes, and something solidifies in them.

“Off the estate,” she says. “There is a healer in the town. A proper old one. Not one of the Alpha’s modern, fancy doctors. I didn’t care where we went, in truth. I only cared that it was outside these walls. I was convinced whatever was killing them was inside this house, so they...