"The worst wounds aren’t from the swords of enemies. They come from the hands of those who once stood beside you."
Betrayal didn’t arrive with the crash of swords or the roar of war horns. It slithered in the dark, hidden beneath honeyed words and carefully laid plans.
And when it struck, it wasn’t the pain that knocked the breath from my lungs.
It was the fury.
The Warning
"Asher."
The way Maren’s voice wavered sent a pulse of dread straight through me. He never hesitated. Never stumbled over his words.
Something was wrong.
Asher stiffened beside me, his body coiled with tension. "What is it?"
Maren looked between the two of us, his hesitation dragging the silence like a blade.
"There’s been a breach."
The air in the war room turned thick, pressing in from all sides.
That word
