The air was too quiet.
Rayne moved through the eastern trail behind the weapons shed, her steps light, her breath steady. It was late—past curfew—but she had grown used to navigating the shadows. The academy’s perimeter training trails offered solitude when the dorms got too stifling, too loud with questions she couldn’t answer.
She needed space. Time to think.
About the note.
About Jace.
About Lucian.
But she never got that time.
A faint sound cracked through the silence—a snap of a branch. Rayne’s instincts kicked in instantly. She ducked behind a low wall of shrubbery, scanning the trees. The moon was high, casting silver streaks between the branches. Everything looked still.
Too still.
She crept forward—then froze.
A wire glinted in the dirt. Barely visible, stretched taut be
