(Ava’s POV)
I didn’t sleep.
The hours dragged, filled with echoes of things unsaid—Dominic’s guarded expression, Logan’s watchful silence, Emily’s worried eyes. I lay in bed staring at the ceiling until the pale light of dawn filtered through the window, casting long, thin shadows across the floorboards.
I rose before anyone else, dressing in silence and wrapping my cloak tight around me. The wind bit against my cheeks as I stepped outside, the mountains around the Shadow Claw stronghold still cloaked in a ghostly fog. Each step felt heavier than the last.
I couldn’t shake the growing sense that time was running out.
For my revenge.
For my place here.
For whatever fragile, burning thing still existed between Dominic and me.
I found myself in the clearing behind the training yard.
