Betrayed By One. Bound To Three

Selena.

The morning air was colder than I expected, settling against my skin as I walked through the trees with steady, unhurried steps.

The weight in my hands grounded me, the animal hanging loosely from my grip, its body still warm as the blood slowly cooled against my fingers.

I had left before sunrise without permission or hesitation, moving through the forest in silence.

It was my first kill, and you can’t begin to imagine how proud I was of myself.

For the first time since I had been brought here, every step had been mine to take, every decision mine to make. No one had followed me, and no one had stopped me.

Now, as I made my way back, the cave came into view, unchanged and familiar. But the moment I drew closer, I felt it—the tension waiting inside, sharp and uneven, like something stretched too tightly.

I slowed just slightly as voices reached me from within.

"She’s not here."

Ronan’s voice carried a strain I had never heard from him before, something tighter than irritation, something closer to unease.

"She couldn’t have gone far," Edris replied, his tone firm but controlled in a way that felt deliberate.

Kael said nothing, and somehow that silence stood out more than their words.

"She left," Nyra added, her voice cutting through theirs with quiet certainty. "You should let her. She’s made it clear she doesn’t want to be here. Why don’t you just let her be."

"That’s not your decision," Kael said, his voice low and final.

Nyra exhaled sharply, frustration slipping through. "You’re still doing this? After everything she said?"

"That’s enough."

Kael again, colder this time, leaving no room for argument.

I stepped inside.

They didn’t notice me at first, too caught up in the tension that had built in my absence. Kael stood near the center, still and rigid, his focus sharp.

Edris moved restlessly, his pacing controlled but betraying something beneath the surface. Ronan stood closer to the entrance, his gaze shifting as though he had already searched every possible direction more than once.

Nyra remained off to the side, her arms crossed, her expression tight with something she was no longer hiding well.

Then Ronan looked up and saw me.

The shift in him was immediate. His body stilled, his eyes locking onto mine as something flickered across his face before he could stop it. Relief. It disappeared just as quickly, replaced by something more guarded.

Edris turned next, followed by Kael, and the cave fell into silence.

I said nothing.

I simply walked in, calm and steady, as though nothing about this was unusual, as though I had not left without a word and returned on my own terms. The animal dropped from my hands with a dull thud as I set it down near the center, the sound cutting through the quiet.

Still, no one spoke.

I didn’t look at them as I moved past, crouching near the fire pit and reaching for what I needed. My movements were quiet and practiced, familiar enough that they required no thought.

Behind me, I could feel their attention sharpen, their focus settling fully on me, but they said nothing. Not a question, not a command.

Nyra was the first to shift.

"She went hunting," she said, her tone carefully neutral, though something beneath it was not. "Alone."

No one responded, and that silence stretched long enough to say everything.

I reached for the knife, my fingers steady as I began working. The soft, precise sounds of blade against flesh filled the cave, grounding in their familiarity. The tension lingered, heavy and unspoken.

After a moment, Nyra let out a quiet breath, the restraint in her finally thinning. "I’m going for a run," she said, her voice sharper now, like she needed distance from something she did not like.

No one stopped her.

Her footsteps faded quickly as she left the cave, and the moment she was gone, the air shifted again. It wasn’t lighter, just quieter, more focused in a way that settled differently.

I continued working without looking up, aware of everything around me. They hadn’t moved far. They hadn’t returned to what they had been doing before. They stayed where they were, watching, waiting, as though I might disappear again if they looked away.

The thought lingered briefly, but I did not react to it.

Instead, I finished preparing the meat and set it over the fire with steady hands, letting the familiar process take over. The scent slowly filled the cave, warm and grounding, but it did nothing to ease the quiet tension that remained.

Time passed quietly, marked only by the low crackle of the fire and the occasional shift behind me.

When the food was ready, I reached for the plates and divided it evenly without hesitation. Then I stood and turned toward them.

For a moment, no one moved.

I stepped forward anyway, handing each of them their portion, starting with Kael, then Edris, then Ronan. None of them spoke, and none of them refused, but they didn’t eat either.

I noticed.

Their attention lingered on the food, not casually, but with quiet caution, measured in a way that did not need to be explained.

I looked at them briefly, then back at my plate.

Without reacting, I sat down and lifted the food to my mouth, taking a bite with slow, deliberate calm. I chewed, swallowed, then took another, as though there was nothing unusual about the moment.

I felt it then, the shift in them, subtle but clear, like something easing just slightly.

Movement followed, hesitant at first, then steadier.

They began to eat.

Still silent, still watchful, but no longer holding back.

I said nothing and did not acknowledge it. I simply continued eating, calm and unmoved, as though none of it mattered.

But I had noticed.

Every second of it.

And somewhere beneath the quiet, something settled into place.

Not control.

Not yet.

But something close.

Something new.

And this time, I did not feel like the one being watched.

Not completely.