The Crushing Blow

"Is that all you managed to scrape together?" Jaxon’s voice sliced through the heavy silence in the dirt courtyard, his tone dripping with unfiltered amusement. He leaned forward on his low wooden stool, nodding toward the bruised eggs and the single, pathetic wilted cabbage trembling in Kaelen's grip.

Kaelen’s head snapped up. His eyes narrowed into slits as he took in Jaxon's clean clothes, res