Tessa's POV:
The wind was still cool that morning, the kind that nipped at your skin and whispered warnings if you listened closely. I stood a little behind Lucian as we crouched low in the thick brambles edging the Eastwood border, eyes trained on Tori.
He had wanted me to stay back at the estate, insisting he had enough men to catch Tori. But I couldn't stay back. This was my fight too.
“Then you're with me. Tessa, don't leave my sight,” he had said in defeat.
Tori looked nervous, shifty. She had kept glancing over her shoulder as she moved deeper into the woods, clearly not expecting to be followed. Her cloak fluttered slightly with each step, and something about her manner felt... off.
Here we were. Hiding like rogues in our own land, watching the traitor unravel herself.
“She’s
