(Ava’s POV)
The sky was still a bruised violet when I stepped out into the cold morning air, boots crunching over frost-laced ground. I hadn’t slept. Not really. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw traps—literal and metaphorical. Rogue camps already emptied, Eli’s too-fast denial, and Dominic’s face when I left his room last night. Raw. Haunted.
I didn’t want to think about him right now.
I had a faction to hold together, one splinter at a time.
Emily was already in the courtyard, running through a new set of drills with the younger recruits. I joined her without a word, my body remembering what my mind tried to forget. Every swing of my arm, every pivot and parry, chipped away at the doubt coiled in my chest.
“You’re getting better,” Emily said once we paused for water.
“I have to,”
