The silence after the storm was worse than the battle itself.
Ash hung in the air, thick enough to sting the back of my throat, and every step we took echoed too loudly in the cavernous ruins. Somewhere above us, the city still burned, though down here in the tunnels, the world felt claustrophobic—like we’d been swallowed whole.
Adrian walked ahead, his shoulders rigid, the weight of command pressing down on him like armor he couldn’t remove. Kael kept his position at the rear, ever the sentinel, his eyes constantly flicking over the shadows. And in the middle, like the fragile hinge holding our fractured group together, was Nora.
Except fragile wasn’t the right word anymore. Not after everything she’d done.
She walked with a grace that defied exhaustion, her gaze sharp, her every move
