Leah Carter's Point of View
The blade hovered at my throat like a threat carved in starlight, its crystalline edge catching the dying firelight and throwing it back in fractured rainbows that danced across the stone walls.
I didn't dare move, not even to swallow the fear that had lodged itself like a stone in my throat. The woman above me, this silver-haired warrior with bones in her braid and frost in her stare, hadn't blinked once since I'd awakened to find death balanced on the point of her dagger. Her golden eyes drilled into mine like she could peel back my skin layer by layer and read the truth written in blood and bone beneath it.
The silence stretched between us, heavy with the weight of unspoken accusations and the promise of violence. I could feel the warmth of my blood trickl
