MAETHYS POV
I don’t know when sleep took me.
One moment I was counting breaths, slow and deliberate, clinging to the rhythm like it could anchor me to something solid—and the next—
Something slammed into the cage.
The impact rang through the metal with a sharp, violent clang that jolted straight through my bones. The whole structure lurched.
I sucked in a breath and snapped upright, wrists burning as the chains pulled tight.
For half a heartbeat, I didn’t understand what had hit me.
Then the night exploded.
Shouts tore through the camp—angry, panicked, overlapping voices barking words I couldn’t make out. Magic cracked through the air in sharp, violent bursts, flashes of light streaking past my cage like thrown stars.
Fire bloomed somewhere to my left, engulfing a tent in a rush o
