Caroline’s POV
The forest lives around me, shadows shifting like restless wolves beneath the pale glow of the moon. Every snapping twig, every rustle of leaves presses into my senses like a warning, but I ignore it. There is no room for hesitation tonight. Lucas waits, and he will not tolerate failure.
I adjust the cloak over my shoulders, gripping the straps of my pack. Every step I take carries the weight of consequences I cannot afford to flinch from. Lucile has a debt, a reason to follow, and yet I feel unease curling inside me like smoke from a dying fire. She is clever, unpredictable, and too aware of her own survival to submit blindly, but she owes me money.
I track her to a small clearing where the trees thin and moonlight pools like silver liquid across the earth. She waits,
