"Let him go," Heidi’s wolf snarls, though her hackles are raised in distress. "He is a coward wearing the skin of a martyr."

But she doesn’t get more than two steps when Amias’s hand shoots out. His fingers wrap around her wrist with a sudden, bruising strength. He yanks her back, spinning her around until she is pinned between his body and the cold stone wall.

The air leaves her lungs. His rain scent overwhelms her. His eyes are no longer flat; they are burning with a terrifying, possessive fire. The Alpha in him, the side he has tried so hard to bury, unleashes in a silent roar of dominance.

"You think I want this?" he hisses, his face inches from hers. His voice is a broken rasp. "You think I want to walk away from my mate? From the only home I’ve ever known?"

"Then stay!" she gasps, her hand coming up to rest against his chest, feeling the frantic, galloping beat of his heart.

"I can’t!" He shakes his head, a single tear escaping and tracing a path through the stubble on his cheek. "If I stay, Heidi, you will never have a happy home with my brother. Because I can’t sit back and watch. I can’t breathe the same air as you, see you wearing his mark, hear you call his name in the night, and not want to tear the world apart to make you mine."

Heidi flinches, the raw honesty of his words hitting her like a blow to the stomach.

"For your own good, I have to do this," he chokes out. "I have to hurt myself every single day by being away from you so that you can have the peace you deserve. So don’t you dare stand there and tell me I’m being selfish. What do you know about this kind of pain? What do you know about living as a ghost in your own house?"

Heidi opens her mouth to speak, to reach out, to tell him that they could find a way—but the words die in her throat. There is no way. The geometry of their lives is broken.

Amias stares at her for a heartbeat longer, his gaze memorizing every line of her face, and then he abruptly releases her. He stumbles back, as if the contact burned him. Without another word, he turns and walks away, his jacket flying behind him like a funeral shroud.

Heidi stays pinned against the wall for a long moment, her breath coming in ragged gasps. She reaches up, wiping the hot moisture from her cheeks.

"He loves you enough to destroy himself," her wolf whispers, sounding uncharacteristically somber. "That is a Bellamy curse, Little Alpha. Carry it well."

Heidi steels herself, pushing off the wall. She can’t fall apart. Not today. She has a sister to say goodbye to.

She makes her way to Isolde’s room, knocking softly before entering. Inside, the room is stripped of its personality. The tapestries are gone, the vanity is clear, and Isolde is standing over a final leather trunk, pulling the straps tight.

"Oh, Heidi," Isolde says, looking up with a bright, somewhat forced smile. "I was wondering when you’d show up."

"I came to help you pack," Heidi says, moving into the room. Her voice is still a little thick, but she forces a smile. "But it looks like I’m too late. You’re already done."

Isolde laughs. It’s a light, melodic sound that lightens the gloom of the room. "Who was I to let an Alpha help me pack? I’d be executed for treason by the Council elders before I even reached the border."

Heidi rolls her eyes, sitting on the edge of the bare bed. "The Council elders can mind their own business. I would have made them carry your trunks themselves if you’d asked." 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

"Now that," Isolde grins, "is a vision I’d pay to see. The Beta tripping over my shoe collection."

They share a brief, genuine laugh, but it fades quickly, leaving a hollow silence in its wake. Heidi looks at the trunk, then back at Isolde.

"It’s sad, you know? You’re leaving just when we were finally starting to become friends. I feel like I’ve spent my whole life being alone, and then I finally find a circle, and the pieces start falling away."

Isolde moves across the room, sitting beside Heidi and taking her hand. Her expression is soft, maternal in a way that Ines never was. "We aren’t friends, Heidi."

Heidi blinks, her heart sinking. "No?"

"No," Isolde says firmly, squeezing her fingers. "We’re sisters. Friends can walk away. Friends can forget. But sisters? We’re bound by the blood we’ve spilled and the house we survived. Distance doesn’t change that."

Heidi leans her head on Isolde’s shoulder. "Then stay. Please, Isolde. The toxicity is gone. Tobias is dead. Even Rayne and Clarissa are... gone. The grown-ups who ruined everything and were the architects of all the misfortune that befell this family have been put in their places. We can build something new here. You don’t have to go with him."

Isolde lets out a long, weary sigh. "That’s exactly why there is finally a home to come back to, Heidi. But for now... I need to find myself somewhere else. I’ve spent my entire life being ’The Alpha’s Daughter’ or ’The Alpha Heirs’ Sister’ or ’The Bellamy Girl.’ I’ve lived in this cage so long I don’t know what my own voice sounds like when it isn’t echoing off these stone walls."

She stands up, pacing the small space of the room. "It’s been my lifelong dream, Heidi. To see the world without a guard behind me. To see if I can be someone without a title. I have to know."

Heidi looks at her, seeing the resolve in the set of Isolde’s shoulders. She realizes that while Amias is leaving out of pain, Isolde is leaving out of a desperate need for life. She has to respect that.

"I understand," Heidi says softly. "I don’t like it, but I understand." She pauses and bites her lip. "What about Nash?"