LIAM'S POV:
The pale light of dawn filtered through the wooden shutters of the inn, casting long, skeletal shadows across the floor. I woke before the sun had fully claimed the sky, my mind already churning with the gears of a dozen different contingencies. In the quiet of the morning, I found Lucy already awake, her presence as silent and steady as a shadow. The others—Kurma, Veldora, and Thor—were still lost in the depths of sleep. It was a peculiar trait of theirs; despite their overwhelming power, they clung to the human luxury of rest with a devotion that bordered on the absurd. Kurma, in particular, seemed to treat sleep as a secondary cultivation method.
"Breakfast, My Lord," Lucy murmured, placing a tray before me.
I looked down at the spread, then at the liquid steaming in the
