Chapter 65 - What You Were
They stayed on the balcony long after the wind had cooled Athena's skin.
She didn't feel cold.
She felt... unsettled.
Like something inside her had been shaken loose and was still trying to find where it belonged.
Silas stood beside her, quiet, patient.
"What you saw wasn't random," he said gently.
Athena nodded. "I know."
She looked out over the valley again.
"I didn't feel like a child watching it happen."
Her voice was thoughtful now, piecing things together.
"I felt like I understood it. Like I knew what they were talking about."
Silas studied her profile.
"That is not something most grow up understanding."
Athena swallowed.
"I knew what the ridge meant. Why it mattered. Why the valley mattered."
She turned to him.
"Why would I know that?"
Silas didn't answer immediately.
Because the thought forming in his mind felt too large to say carelessly.
"You were not just from a pack," he said finally.
Athena's brow furrowed.
"What do you mean?"
Silas held her gaze.
"You did not grow up near leadership."
He gestured lightly back toward the fortress.
"You grew up inside it."
Athena went still.
Her heart began to beat faster.
"I didn't feel like a bystander in that memory," she whispered.
Silas nodded once.
"You felt like you belonged at the table."
She stared at him.
A realization slowly rising.
"What if..." she hesitated. "...what if I was meant to lead?"
The words hung between them, heavy and uncertain.
But they didn't feel wrong.
Silas didn't dismiss it.
He didn't laugh.
He didn't tell her it was impossible.
He said quietly,
"Then that is exactly why they tried to take it from you."