Allissa
The thick canvas of the white tent muffled the sounds from the outside. I stood behind the gathered leaders, my eyes fixed on the map spread across the makeshift war table. Darren was right in front of me, and I watched as his fingers moved over the parchment. The centaur prince to his left growled low in his throat, shaking his head. “That leaves the eastern villages exposed. We can’t risk it.”
“And if we pull back to defend them, we lose our advantage in the mountains,” countered the harpy queen, her wings rustling with agitation.
I bit my lip, my mind racing as I considered the implications of each strategy. The complexity of inter-species politics had never felt more daunting. One wrong move could shatter fragile alliances, doom innocent lives.
My gaze drifted across the te
