The ride home was silent.
Maria sat between Joseph and Luca, their shoulders pressed close in the cramped interior of the armored SUV, but none of them said anything. The air was heavy with the scent of blood, charred magic, and betrayal—remnants of the council summit. The weight of it hung on her chest like armor she could no longer shed.
Outside, the forest blurred past in shades of dusk, the trees skeletal in the fading light. The summit had ended in chaos. A few Council members were dead. Alliances had fractured. Eyes had turned on Maria, not as a Luna to be followed, but as a threat to be managed. They didn’t know what the future held for them anymore.
She had gone there to prove her strength.
Instead, she had shown them her fury.
And they had recoiled.
Joseph's hand rested lig
