(Ava’s POV)
The cage door clanged open in the middle of the night. Moonlight slivered through the cracks in the transport wagon, casting silvery bars across my skin.
“Now,” whispered the recruit—my recruit, the trembling-eyed girl with too much fear and just enough hope to believe in me.
She’d unshackled my wrists moments earlier under the guise of feeding me. Her hands had shaken so badly I thought she might drop the key. But she’d done it. And now, here we were, crouched inside the belly of a Hollow Fang transport cart, surrounded by crates and heavy silence. My heart thundered in my chest, not from fear—but from clarity.
It was now or never.
She handed me the blade she’d smuggled in her boot—small, rusted, but sharp enough to spill blood. “Go,” she whispered again. “Head for the cu
