(Ava’s POV)
The wind carried a biting chill that morning, whispering through the trees like it knew something I didn’t. I stood at the edge of the training field, watching the recruits go through their drills, every movement echoing with the rhythm of discipline. But my mind wasn’t on the warriors. It was on the mess we’d come back to.
Since the failed mission, the air in Shadow Claw had changed. It was thicker now—tainted by doubt, fractured loyalties, and secrets too dangerous to name. Whispers followed me wherever I walked. Eyes flickered away when I met their gaze. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what they thought. That I was the reason everything fell apart.
And maybe, in some twisted way, I was.
“Still playing soldier?” Emily’s voice broke through the silence behind me.
I
