CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The sweltering heat of the sun blisters down my shoulders. A bead of sweat trails down my spine, but it's not just the relentless sun that's causing the heat flushing my cheeks. My heart is thundering against my ribcage, each beat echoing Silas’s words from earlier. "You have to listen to the elders, Sage," he said, his green eyes avoiding mine as if he couldn't bear to witness the pain that was surely written all across my face.
"Listen to the elders and marry Torin." His voice replays in my head, a haunting echo that refuses to fade. The tall grasses seem to whisper his name with every gentle sway, mocking me with the reminder of what I'm supposed to do — what I can't bring myself to accept.
I collapse under the shade of an ancient oak tree, its sprawling branches offe
