Third Person P.O.V.
The woods had quieted again, the distant sounds of crickets reclaiming the silence that chaos had just disturbed. Diane’s cloak billowed around her legs as she ran, her heart pounding with fury and satisfaction. Though her infiltration had failed, and she hadn’t breached the full barrier, she had seen enough. She had felt enough. The protection surrounding Bella’s home, the sheer magical force holding the wards together—it wasn’t just for show. No ordinary house received such devotion. The only explanation, the one that made her lips curl into a smirk of victory, was that Mason was in there.
“Why else,” Diane muttered to herself, dodging low-hanging branches, “would they protect that house like it’s the damn royal treasury?”
Two warriors—strong ones—had fought her wi
