Brute 141

Posted by ADMINMMADMIN, ? Views, Released on October 15, 2025

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Chapter 141

ATASHA’S POV

“Is it always like this?” I asked Grace, who stood beside me.

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We were near the biggest bonfire in the outpost yard. The flames threw sparks into the dark, and the whole place smelled like smoke, roasted meat, and cheap liquor.

Soldiers crowded the open space, some dancing in a crooked circle, boots thudding against packed snow and dirt, others shouting over mugs and skins passed from hand to hand. Someone beat a snare in a rough rhythm. Someone else tried to sing and forgot the words halfway through, which only made the men laugh

harder.

Grace handed me a tin cup. “Drink. It helps you pretend your bones don’t ache just from their singing.”

I took a cautious sip. It burned, but it wasn’t terrible. Almost immediately, warmth pooled in my stomach.

“We thought the red moon would last longer this time,” Grace said, watching the fire. “First time in years it ended early. First time the count of dead dropped by more than half. I understand why everyone was this excited.”

I turned to her. “Half?”

She nodded. “More than half, compared to the last tide.” Her eyes cut toward me. “That’s on you.”

I looked back at the flames, the wood collapsing in red–edged chunks. “It isn’t just me.”

“It is you,” she said plainly. “You patched them fast. You didn’t send anyone away when you should’ve been sleeping. And you kept the Lord steady.” She lifted her cup in a small salute. “Don’t argue. Let me be right for one night.”

Across the yard, I spotted Cassian near the supply shed with Mendez and Rio. They were half in shadow, talking low. Mendez stood with his arms folded, listening. Rio gestured once with his cup, then laughed at something Cassian said.

Even from here, I could tell Cassian was relaxed in that way he only allowed when the worst had passed. He caught my eye for a second. The ring of red in his gaze was gone.

“Tomorrow,” Grace went on. “The first batch rides for the northern gates. And another batch would arrive. It is part of the rotation. The soldiers returning… would then spend some time with their families. Some of those families never even expected to see the soldiers again.” She exhaled. “It’ll feel strange.”

“What do you mean, strange?”

She only shrugged in response.

“They deserve to meet their family members…” I added. The word family somehow felt strange to my tongue. It was probably because I knew that most men in this outpost no longer had family members. Most of the people here welcomed death not because they wanted to but because they had nothing else left. They chose to die fighting for the North.

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Chapter 141

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They do. She bumped my shoulder with hers. “They also said this is the first tide the Lord fought with them. Inside the line. Not just outside the gate.”

I swallowed. “He’s always fought.”

“In his way,” she said. “But this time, they saw him beside them. That matters.” She tipped her chin at me. “They say it’s because of the Lady of the North.”

“They’re praising me too much,” I muttered. My face heated. “I… stood where he told me to and did what I

could.”

“Exactly,” she said. “Sometimes that’s the point.”

The drums picked up speed. A pair of scouts tried to out–dance two stable hands and lost badly. Someone near the stew pot whooped. I took another sip and let the burn settle.

Movement near the long table drew my eye. Halden Morrow sat on a bench with three men from the second tower, a jug between them. He was already pink at the nose, laughing at something crude. His laugh didn’t match the fact that his daughter was lying two buildings over, staring at ceilings that didn’t answer back.

“Reina,” I said quietly. “How is she?”

Grace’s mouth tightened. “They’ll send her with the wagons tomorrow. She’s… safer inside the walls. She.….….. isn’t coming back to herself.” Grace made a deliberate pause. “She talks like she’s still hearing the horns. Or nothing at all. Sometimes, she could recognize her name, then sometimes…. she would just stare at nothing for hours.

I stared at the rim of my cup. “And Halden?” I nodded toward him.

Grace followed my line of sight, then looked away. “He’s got other children,” she said flatly. “Younger, but children nonetheless. He’s got a bastard, a son at the western ridge. Two daughters married in the village. He’ll grieve the way men here grieve, by not slowing down.”

It wasn’t fair, but it made a terrible kind of sense. Up here, loss was normal. People didn’t have room to fall apart every time it came for them. They stacked it in a corner of themselves and kept moving.

A group of younger guards drifted over with a plate of charred meat and flatbread. One offered it to Grace first.

“For the Lady,” he said, nodding to me.

“Give it here,” Grace said, rolling her eyes. “She’ll faint if she keeps drinking that on an empty stomach.” She shoved a piece into my hand and another into her own mouth. “Eat.”

I bit down. It was smoky, salty, and perfect. This wasn’t the first time that the soldiers or people from the infirmary gave me something. Grace’s reaction made me chuckle.

“Thank you,” I told the boy. He flushed and left before I could say more.

Grace chewed, then said around it, “Tomorrow’s a good day for them to go home. Good day to remember the north has more than fighting in it.” She swallowed. “You should try sleeping tonight.”

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Chapter 141

“I will.” I lied.

“Mm.” She didn’t push.

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Music shifted again. Someone started a slower tune, and a few pairs tried to dance like they remembered how from a time before armor and frostbite. Laughter followed when they stepped on each other’s toes.

This time, I glanced back at Cassian. I saw Mendez clapped his shoulder once and walked away with Rio, leaving him alone at the edge of the light. He didn’t call me over. He didn’t have to. The pull under my ribs leaned in his direction. I finished my drink and set the cup on the nearest crate.

Grace noticed. “Go,” she said, amused. “Pretend you’re checking his bandages. That’s what you tell yourself anyway.”

I gave her a look. Was she teasing me? “I’m checking his bandages,“I said. Except… he doesn’t have one. How could he? Despite fighting against beast the whole morning, Cassian didn’t sustain any injury. I’d like to think it was just because he was stronger.

“Of course you are,” she said, deadpan. “And I’m a saint.”

That made me laugh, probably louder than I should’ve. I shoved the cup back into her hands before I said something even dumber. My legs moved before my brain could stop them, straight toward Cassian.

He was standing near the edge of the firelight, all calm and serious as usual, which was exactly why I said the next thing that popped into my head.

I grinned at him and blurted, “How about a dance?”

I froze a second too late. What in the goddess’s name was I saying?

Cassian blinked, his expression unreadable.

I immediately wanted to crawl into the nearest snow pile. “I–uh–I meant that as a joke,” I said quickly. “You don’t actually have to–uh–dance. You don’t even look like you’d know how.”