Chapter 66. Not Your Fate

AURELIA

The first pink streaks of dawn crept over the horizon, soft and sleepy against the vast night, but the three of us had not paused for a single breath.

The air hung cold, biting into my skin as I pushed Vesta’s pace, trying to keep up. Her horse darted over the rough terrain like a shade, swift and relentless.

Countless times, I’d surged forward to match her speed, only to fall back again, exhausted and weighed down by the ache in my bones. Hours had bled together, the moon’s glow slowly giving way to the first hint of day, and still, she drove forward.

It was hard not to notice that something was gnawing at her—a sharpness, a tension that bristled in the silence between us. She hadn’t said a single word since we left Rome, not even a sideways glance in my direction or a question about why Sigrid had joined us on this journey.

Just a curt “Keep up,” when we’d departed, our clothes meant to deceive, cloaked as wealthy traders.

But I could fe