Athena forced herself not to dwell on the assassins' connection to Michael. All she cared about now was reaching Wendal Mountain as fast as possible.

Athena didn’t know if Michael had managed to hold off the assassins, or if she was just lucky, but two hours later, no one was trailing the carriage.

At the foot of Wendral Mountain, Athena and Jessa gazed up at the towering peaks, both frowning in concern.

Finding a single dry well on a mountain this vast was like searching for a needle in a haystack.

“Just the two of us searching, we could spend two weeks and still come up empty,” Jessa said matter-of-factly, not meaning to discourage Athena, just stating the truth.

The odds were stacked against them.

Then, Athena calmly pulled a map from within her clothes. “Searching blindly will get us nowhere,” she said. “But with a clear objective, we’ll achieve twice as much with half the effort.”

She traced several marked spots on the map with her finger and explained to Jessa, “Chief Rogers’s hometown is in Halewick. He must have sensed danger, so he bypassed the official road and took smaller, more discreet routes. Wendral Mountain would be his wisest choice.”

Athena’s finger landed firmly on a fork in the road on the map. “Here," she said, "there are two roads. One leads to Jewel Temple on Wendral Mountain, the other is the only way to Halewick. Which do you think he would choose?”

Jessa was impressed by Athena’s sharp mind. After a brief pause, she ventured, “The right one?”

Athena shook her head slightly. “If you had pursuers at your back, would you still run deeper into the mountains?”

Her words struck Jessa like a revelation. She shook her head. “No, I’d head toward populated areas.”

“Chief Rogers must have fled to Jewel Temple, with his wife and daughter in tow,” Athena affirmed.

Jessa’s eyes lit up. “Right!" she exclaimed. "Where there’s a temple, there must be a well. Athena, you’re truly brilliant!”

Athena smiled as she folded up the map. “It’s not really about being smart. Wendral Mountain’s boxed in on three sides, and only Jewel Temple has a decent water supply. Everywhere else is too steep; digging a well there would’ve been next to impossible.”

As she spoke, Athena tucked a dagger into her sash.

Then, with a sharp crack of the whip, she sent the horses and carriage thundering away.

Though the pursuers hadn’t caught up, Athena knew better than to let her guard down.

It was better to be safe than sorry; a little extra caution never hurt.

Jessa followed behind Athena, marveling at how someone so small could have such immense strength inside her.

Any other woman would probably be sobbing uncontrollably and completely at her wit's end by now.

Yet from the moment disaster struck, Athena had remained perfectly composed, without so much as a single frown.

“Athena, aren’t you scared?” Jessa asked softly.

Athena’s heart caught in her throat as she gazed up at the mountains, their peaks lost in the clouds.

A bitter smile touched her lips. “Afraid?” she echoed. “I used to be terrified of pain, a complete coward. But after three years of brutal suffering in the military camp, no hardship scares me anymore.”

“What was the military camp like?” Jessa asked gently, though she hesitated to reopen Athena’s old wounds. Still, she believed Athena needed to voice her trauma. Only by letting the pain out could the healing begin.

Athena’s current state was clearly the result of lingering trauma.

She showed no pity or sorrow, appearing untouched by anything.

But Jessa knew this wasn’t true fearlessness, just a self-protective numbness from wounds too deep to bear.

In the slave camp, she had seen women break down into desperate screams as they watched others die before their very eyes.

At first, they were terrified, but after witnessing so many gruesome deaths, even the most horrifying scenes couldn’t faze them.

It wasn’t that they had stopped being afraid; they had just become numb.

But that kind of detachment wasn’t normal. A person completely devoid of emotion could hardly be called human.

Jessa had gone through that herself. Only after she finally let it all out did she start to feel like herself again.

At this moment, Athena gave Jessa a cool, distant glance, clearly reluctant to speak.

She lowered her lashes to hide her emotions, but Jessa spoke in a distant, even tone. “I once clawed my way through piles of the dead in the slave camp. Severed limbs were everywhere, bones jutting from wounds, blood soaking the ground.

“I was like a wild beast, knowing only how to fight and kill, all for a scrap of bread. Survival. That was my only drive.”

Jessa looked at Athena with a radiant smile. “Athena, you had it easier than I did. You only spent three years in the military camp, but I endured eight in the slave camp.”

Athena stared at Jessa in surprise; her smile was brighter than sunlight.

Athena had once smiled that way, without effort or thought. But somewhere along the line, the smiles faded.

Now, even in moments of joy, all she could offer was a faint curve of the lips, a shadow of what once was. It wasn’t for lack of trying. It was simply that nothing touched her heart quite the same anymore.

Jessa looked into Athena’s somewhat dared eyes and said softly, “Prince Xander wants you to be happy. He blames himself every day for failing to protect you. Athena, maybe you could try to trust him, and maybe trust me too.”

Athena darted her eyes nervously as the path became harder and harder to navigate.

The mountain trail, now muddy from melting snow, was nearly impassable.

Mud clung to her shoes and skirt hem as she and Jessa leaned on each other for support, trudging forward together.

Only the occasional birdsong broke the mountain silence; there wasn’t a soul in sight.

Both women panted heavily, yet the temple seemed to recede further into the distance with every step, its gates perpetually out of reach.

Athena wiped the sweat from her brow and let out a bitter laugh. “Same old routine: forced kneeling, beatings. They knew I was nobility, so they made it a point to humiliate me.

“Ripped my clothes to shreds, left me half-naked, made me kneel in the snow, treating me like an animal.

“As long as I obeyed… submitted… at least I could get a full meal.”

Jessa froze in her tracks, staring at Athena in shock. She saw that the corners of Athena’s eyes were flushed crimson, as if stained with rouge.

“Then you…” Jessa began, but the rest of her question died in her throat. She dared not ask further, nor could she bear to dwell on the implications.

Given what that place was like, the fact that Athena had survived at all was nothing short of a miracle, more than anyone could ask for.

Athena gently rolled up her sleeve, revealing a vivid scarlet chastity seal before Jessa’s eyes.

Jessa gasped in shock, her eyes widening, but not a single word escaped her lips.

Athena let her sleeve fall, a cynical smile on her lips. “There was a pond in the camp, teeming with toads. I’d skin them and smear their skin on myself. Soon, my whole body broke out in blisters, just like I had smallpox.

“Those men were terrified for their lives. When they saw me, it was as if they’d seen a ghost. They wouldn’t dare touch me, only forced me into the hardest, most backbreaking work. They thought I’d die, but I survived.”

Jessa looked at Athena, then gently pulled her into a comforting embrace and whispered, “Don’t be afraid. It’s all in the past now.”

Athena, held tightly in Jessa’s arms, spoke in a muffled voice: “I’ve always been terrified of toads. Just seeing one like that, I could skin them with my bare hands… even eat them raw.”

She went on quietly. “It wasn’t just toads. There were rats and snakes too. When I had nothing else, they were what kept me alive.”