Chapter 72

Briar’s POV

I was anxious, I kept on rubbing my hands against my jeans. The kids didn’t go to school today.

It’s not as if they had one. The council had the school expel them. It was my fault.

I sat cross-legged on the living room floor, watching as Finn pushed toy soldiers across a faded rug and Luna braided the tail of her stuffed unicorn with intense concentration. The quiet stretched thin around us, uncomfortable and heavy, like the calm before a very personal kind of storm.

I hated this part the most—the in-between. The waiting. The pretending things were normal when they absolutely weren’t.

"Can I ask you something?" Finn said suddenly, glancing up from his imaginary battlefield.

I blinked, startled. "Of course."

He hesitated, then said, "Why doesn’t anyone like the Kings?"

I looked at him. His brows were furrowed like he was really thinking about it, not just repeating something he’d overhear