Riviera Hotel – 9:06 A.M.
The air was split down the middle between silence and revelation, between what Selene wanted to believe and what had just been carved into her bones.
A blood oath.
The phrase clung to the walls of the hotel suite, more suffocating than the storm that had shaken the city hours ago. Selene’s chest rose and fell unevenly, as though her lungs could no longer remember their rhythm.
Her eyes darted between Cassien and Leona. Two storms. Two truths. And she was caught in the space where the lightning struck.
“What is she talking about?” Selene’s voice broke, sharper than she intended. “Cassien, tell me she’s lying. Tell me this is just another one of her games.”
Cassien didn’t answer. His silence said more than words ever could.
Leona’s smile was razor-thin, carve
