CIARA'S POV
The forest was dark. The kind of darkness that felt alive, crawling across my skin with sticky fingers. My feet were bare, slicing against roots and thorns, but I kept running. I didn’t know where I was going. Just away. Away from them.
A twig snapped.
My heart stopped.
Then I saw them.
Ronan. Ewan. Brigid.
They stepped out from the trees like they had always belonged to the shadows. All three of them held knives, silver catching moonlight like it wanted to mock me. I stumbled back, but they were already moving. Brigid moved first, her blade slicing my arm before I could scream. I kicked out, punched wildly, tried to run—but they surrounded me.
The knives came down again.
And again.
Hot pain seared through my body. My blood hit the leaves, soaking into the ground like
