Elara packed nothing that would slow her down.
She moved through the dim hall while Frostveil slept uneasily, the stone floors cold under her bare feet. The lamps were low, shadows stretching long and thin, like they were trying to hold her back. She ignored them.
Dawn had not broken yet. That was the point.
She stopped once, only once, to listen.
No alarms. No horns. Just the quiet hum of the land, alert but not panicked. Frostveil had survived the night. That meant she could leave without blood following her steps.
Mira slept curled on the narrow bed, dark lashes resting against her cheeks. Elara knelt beside her and brushed a hand through her hair.
"We're going," she whispered.
Mira stirred, as if she had been waiting for the words.
"Now?" she murmured.
"Yes."
Mira sat up without complaint. No questions. No fear. She wrapped her arms around Elara's neck, small and warm and solid.
"You're quiet," Mira said sleepily.
Elara swallowed. "So are you."
Mira nodded. "Quiet means we don't get stopped."
That almost broke her.
They reached the outer path just as the first pale line of dawn touched the sky.
Elara felt Frostveil react.
Not resistance.
Recognition.
The land knew what she was doing. It did not argue. It did not plead. It shifted subtly, opening a path through the rocks, softening the slope beneath her boots.
She exhaled slowly. "Thank you," she murmured.
Mira peeked over her shoulder. "Are we leaving forever?"
Elara hesitated. Then choose honesty.
"I don't know," she said. "But we're leaving now."
"That's okay," Mira replied. "I don't like it when people fight over me."
Elara's jaw tightened. "They shouldn't."
"But they do," Mira said simply. "So we move."
So we move.
Elara pressed her forehead briefly to her daughter's. "You're stronger than they think."
Mira smiled faintly. "So are you."
Kael woke with the bond screaming.
Not pain.
Absence.
He bolted upright, breath ragged, the taste of loss sharp in his mouth. For a heartbeat, he thought Mira was in danger again.
Then he felt it.
Distance.
Elara.
Gone.
He was on his feet and pulling on his boots before the thought finished forming. Guards scrambled as he burst from his tent.
"Where is she?" he demanded.
Rowan stood near the ridge, arms crossed, expression unreadable.
"She left," Rowan said.
Kael froze. "Left?"
"Quietly," Rowan added. "Before dawn. Like she said she would, if it came to this."
Kael's chest tightened. "You let her go."
"She didn't ask permission."
The bond flared violently, dragging Kael forward a step. "Which way?"
Rowan pointed east. "Toward the old passes. Alone."
Kael swore. "She won't make it far before the other packs realize"
"That she refuses to be fought over?" Rowan cut in. "Yes. That will take them a while to understand."
Kael turned sharply. "You should have stopped her."
Rowan met his gaze, unflinching. "You should have never given her a reason to leave."
That landed.
Kael didn't argue.
He mounted without another word.
Elara felt him follow before she heard him.
The bond tugged, sharp and insistent, a pull she had learned to recognize and resist. She did not turn around. Not yet.
"Mama," Mira murmured. "He's coming."
"I know."
"Are we running?"
"No," Elara said. "We're walking."
Footsteps sounded behind them, fast, unhidden now.
"Elara."
She stopped.
Not because he called her name.
Because Mira squeezed her hand.
Elara turned slowly.
Kael stood a few paces away, hair wind-tossed, cloak unfastened, eyes burning with something close to panic.
"You left," he said unnecessarily.
"Yes."
"You didn't say anything."
"I said everything," she replied calmly. "Just not to you."
He took a step closer. "You can't just disappear. Not now."
"Watch me."
The words were quiet. Final.
Mira leaned out from Elara's side. "You're loud," she told Kael.
He flinched. "I didn't mean to scare you."
"You didn't scare me," Mira said. "You scared her."
Kael looked at Elara then. Really looked.
The calm on her face was not peace.
It was armor.
"You think leaving fixes this?" he said softly.
"I think staying breaks it," she replied.
"Breaks what?"
Elara's voice sharpened just enough to cut. "Me."
Kael's jaw tightened. "You don't have to beg. I'm not asking you to."
"I know," she said. "That's why I'm leaving."
The bond surged, hot and aching, pulling at both of them.
"You don't trust me," he said.
"I don't trust the world around you," Elara replied. "And I won't raise my child inside a battlefield disguised as a home."
Kael's voice went rough. "I stood against my pack for you."
"No," she corrected. "You stood against them for yourself. For what you couldn't ignore anymore."
That hurt him. She saw it.
Good.
"I won't chase you," he said after a moment. "But if danger comes—"
"It will," Elara said.
"And if it finds you?"
She met his gaze steadily. "Then I'll handle it."
Silence stretched between them, thin as ice.
Mira tugged Elara's sleeve. "Mama?"
"Yes?"
"Are we going where the sky opens?"
Elara smiled faintly. "Yes."
Mira nodded, satisfied, and turned her face away from Kael.
That hurt more than anything else.
Kael stepped back.
"I chose power," he said quietly. "I won't choose it again."
Elara did not soften. "Choices don't echo backward."
She turned and walked on.
Kael did not follow.
Not this time.
By the time the sun crested the ridge, Elara stood at the edge of the old passes.
The land changed here.
Wilder. Older.
She felt it press against her senses, curious, cautious, testing.
Mira wriggled free and stepped onto the stone. The air shifted instantly.
Elara felt it.
Power stirred beneath her feet.
Not borrowed.
Not claimed.
Answered.
"Mama," Mira whispered. "It likes us."
Elara swallowed. "Yes. It does."
Behind them, far too late, horns sounded.
Not Frostveil's.
Foreign.
Elara's grip tightened around Mira's hand.
They were not done being hunted.
But she had stopped running.
As the land rose to meet her, Elara made a silent vow.
She would never beg again.
Not for love.
Not for safety.
And never for a place to stand.