CYNTHIA’S POV
I paced back and forth in the damp underground corridor, the frantic clicking of my heels matching the terrifying hammering in my chest. I was losing my mind.
It had been three full days since I sent the elite execution squad into the neutral forest to finish off Zaria, and not a single one of them had reported back. Except for one.
Captain Vance. The coward had crawled back into our territory in the middle of the night, bleeding and terrified. I had caught him myself and thrown him down into the deepest cell before he could breathe a word to my father or Garrick.
I pulled the heavy iron keyring from my waist and unlocked the cell door. It creaked open, revealing Vance chained tightly to the stone wall in the shadows. He looked awful—pale, covered in sweat, and shaking li
