The air inside Damien’s office was suffocatingly still.
He stood by the window, watching the first slivers of dawn cut through the mist that hung over the estate. His reflection in the glass looked foreign, pale, drawn, and silent. The words Lila said hours ago still replayed in his mind like a curse.
Amara is working with them.
He didn’t want to believe it. He refused to. And yet, every time he tried to reason it away, the image of her calm, unreadable eyes from the night before clawed at him. She had seemed tired. Detached. As if something in her had already shifted, and he’d been too blind to see it.
A knock at the door pulled him from his thoughts.
“Enter,” Damien said without turning around.
The door opened, and Luke stepped inside, fully armed and alert. His expression was as g
