(Ruby's POV)
The new safe house is an old farmhouse buried in the hills.
No neighbors for miles. No roads leading anywhere important. Just fields and forests and the distant sound of sheep. Anya says Kai will never find us here. I want to believe her.
The rooms are small, dusty, cold. The furniture is old, covered in sheets. But there's a fireplace in the main room, and Mrs. MacLeod is already there, building a fire.
She came with us. I didn't even know she was in the car until we stopped.
"You're not staying at the manor?" I asked her on the drive.
"The manor is no longer safe," she said, her voice flat. "Kai's men are everywhere. And my place is with you."
I wanted to hug her. But Mrs. MacLeod isn't the hugging type. So I just nodded and said thank you.
Now she's kneeling by the hearth, stacking wood, her face calm and steady. She's been through worse than this. We all have.
