"I have a past," he said quietly.
Isabella raised an eyebrow. "Obviously."
Cyrus almost laughed, but the sound died in his throat. His expression tightened again, eyes turning heavy with pain.
"I came from Fifth City," he admitted.
Isabella's expression did not change much, but inside her mind, pieces clicked into place. The wrist binding charm. Kian's recognition. Cyrus's stiffening.
She did not interrupt.
Cyrus continued, voice low, as if he feared the walls themselves might hear.
"In Fifth City… there are people who trade rare beasts and females like they are livestock," he said. His hand clenched as he remembered the past and everything that had happened to not just him but also the poor people.
"They do not only buy and sell. They also capture. They use trained men, marked and controlled, to locate mountain beasts and drag them down."
His eyes flickered as if seeing something else.
