Chapter 24: Freya
Breakfast settled over the Haven's battered kitchen in a fragile quiet, the kind that begged to be broken. Kael sat at the scratched table, his fork scraping across a half-empty plate of eggs.
Steam curled up from hisffee mug in lazy wisps that stung his still-tender nose.
Across from him, Rhea slouched in her chair, the white t-shirt and pajama pants he'd left her swallowing her frame.
Her crimson hair was a tangled mess as she shoveled toast crumbs into her mouth. Her amber eyes stayed bleary, squinting against the gray light spilling through the busted window.
The clink of utensils bounced off cracked tiles, mixing with the occasional creak of a chair whenever one of them shifted. For a moment, the silence held—a thin shield over the chaos of last night's fight and this morning's brawl with Freya.
Then Rhea's mug slammed down with a thud,ffee sloshing over the rim, and her voice erupted, shattering the calm like a brick through glass.
She didn't waste breath on the eggs or the wreckage still haunting therners; her target was Freya, and Kael hadn't even asked.
"That icy bitch has this precision that makes my skin crawl," she started, voice thick with irritation. She jabbed her fork into the air like a weapon.
"Slices through anything—people, walls, whatever—like it's butter, and she doesn't even blink. Drives me up the damn wall how she struts around, acting like nothing can touch her." She chewed loudly, crumbs sticking to her lip, and her wl deepened as she barreled on without a pause.