The communication stone was still warm beneath my palm when my father’s voice came through.
Calm.
Heavy with the weight of years.
A quiet strength forged from long seasons of waiting.
“Come home, Evelyn,” he said.
The simple words cracked something open inside me—something I had buried beneath decades of silence.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” he continued softly. “Twenty years, Evelyn. Twenty years.”
Twenty years.
Twenty years of wondering if I would ever hear his voice again.
Twenty years of holding my pride like armor while my life slowly withered away.
And me—
Too stubborn.
Too afraid.
Too broken to reach for him.
My knees nearly gave way, but I caught the bedpost before I fell. Slowly, I lowered myself onto the mattress.
Tears spilled freely now, burning through the emptiness inside my chest.
“I’m coming home,” I whispered.
My voice was barely more than breath.
Like a ghost brushing against the world.
He didn’t answer immediately.
Only the steady sound of his breathing traveled through the stone.
Solid.
Grounding.
A lifeline stretched across twenty years.
I ended the connection before my voice betrayed me again.
---
The door creaked.
Draven stepped inside like a shadow slipping through the crack.
His eyes were sharp, cold, searching.
Predatory.
“I know you saw the travel scroll,” he said with a smirk, as though this humiliation were some shared joke.
“Six names only.”
He counted them casually.
“Me. Liora. Kael. Lyra. The twins.”
His smile widened.
“That’s all.”
My throat tightened.
“You left me out on purpose,” I said quietly.
The words trembled despite my effort.
His expression hardened.
“When I return,” he said slowly, “I’ll buy you a diamond set from the southern traders.”
He shrugged.
“Maybe take you somewhere nice. The island territories. Something to make up for it.”
A consolation prize.
Like tossing a scrap of meat to a wolf you had already beaten.
Then he turned and left the room without another glance.
The door closed behind him like the lid of a coffin.
---
Morning came.
The kitchen smelled of sizzling meat and toasted bread.
I moved automatically, preparing breakfast for the pack.
Omelets.
Bacon.
Fresh bread.
The sounds of laughter drifted from the main hall.
The twins’ voices rang with bright excitement.
“This voyage will be incredible!” Kael shouted. “The greatest sea journey the Luciana traders have hosted!”
Liora arrived soon after, her arms filled with food containers from the market.
She dropped them onto the table with dramatic annoyance.
“I refuse to eat Evelyn’s cooking,” she announced loudly.
Her eyes flicked toward me with open contempt.
“It’s dry. Tasteless. Like chewing tree bark.”
She laughed softly.
“Exactly like her.”
The twins giggled.
Liora crossed her arms and tilted her head thoughtfully.
“Family meals used to mean something,” she said loudly enough for everyone to hear. “Now they only remind us how pitiful some people are.”
Her gaze swept over me slowly.
“Evelyn tries. Bless her heart.”
She smiled cruelly.
“But you can’t polish a stone that’s already cracked.”
Kael leaned against the counter.
“Honestly, Mom,” he added casually, “why pretend? Your cooking feels like punishment.”
Lyra laughed brightly.
“Every burnt edge feels like revenge.”
Liora opened another container and placed it proudly on the table.
“Eat, everyone,” she said grandly. “Real food.”
“We leave in an hour.”
The family gathered around her offerings eagerly.
They ate and joked as though I weren’t even there.
A servant.
A ghost.
Just before they departed, Draven’s voice cut sharply across the room.
“Where is my coin pouch?”
His gaze locked onto me immediately.
Accusing.
“You took it,” he said flatly. “That’s what you do. Hide things. Hide responsibility.”
I shook my head silently.
His hand struck my face before I could speak.
The blow sent me crashing to the floor.
Warm blood trickled down from my lip.
Liora gasped theatrically.
“Oh!” she exclaimed sweetly.
“Brother-in-law, forgive me.”
She reached into her purse and revealed the missing pouch.
“I must have taken it accidentally while searching for my earrings.”
Her eyes met mine for a brief moment.
Triumphant.
Another humiliation completed.
The family gathered their bags and prepared to leave.
“Don’t worry, Mum,” Kael said lightly. “I’ll bring you a souvenir from the voyage.”
Lyra smiled sweetly.
“A pretty charm, perhaps.”
“Dirty laundry, Grandma!” the twins sang, sticking out their tongues.
Then the front door closed behind them.
Silence swallowed the house.
---
I didn’t cry.
I walked straight to my chamber.
I knelt beside the bed and pulled the red satchel from beneath it.
I packed only what mattered.
The silver coins.
The moonstone ring from my birth pack.
The photograph of the girl I used to be.
Everything else stayed behind.
I left the den before the afternoon sun reached its peak.
A carriage waited at the edge of town, heading north toward the mountain territories.
As I climbed inside, the mindlink stirred faintly.
Draven’s voice.
Guard the house while we’re gone. One week.
Another message followed soon after.
Sorry about earlier. But you provoked me.
Always jealous.
Always ruining things.
I smiled.
Not from happiness.
From clarity.
I severed the mindlink connection completely.
Blocked him from my thoughts.
His voice vanished.
Gone.
I leaned back against the carriage seat as the road carried me farther away.
Farther from the den that had never truly been my home.
For the first time in thirty years—
I was finally going somewhere that was.
Home.
