[Ava's POV]
The oppressive silence of the Den’s gym in the aftermath of the alien voice was a tangible weight, thicker than the lingering dust of shattered alloy. It was a silence punctuated by the ragged echo of Ava’s own breathing and the low, simmering fury radiating from the three men now standing guard over her. The voice had left no trace in the security logs, no ripple in the magical wards—it was a ghost that spoke directly to the haunted house of her mind, and that made it infinitely more dangerous.
Lucien, after a cold, methodical inspection of the ruined door and a scan of the room that seemed to peer into the very atoms of the air, turned. His decision, when it came, was absolute. It carried the finality of a vault door sealing.
“We are leaving this tomb,” he announced, his v
