Ava’s POV
The courtyard smelled of smoke and blood.
I froze on the steps as the gates groaned open and survivors spilled inside. Their faces were pale, streaked with soot and tears. A woman clutched her child so tightly I thought she might crush him, her knuckles white as she stumbled forward. The boy’s wails rang sharp in the night air, it was raw and helpless.
Behind them, two warriors carried a third between them. His leg dragged uselessly, his chest slashed open in deep claw marks. His blood hit the stone in dark splatters, each drop making the courtyard feel smaller and heavier.
I couldn’t breathe.
Healers rushed past me with stretchers, their hands already glowing faintly as they tried to heal wounds that looked too wide, too brutal. The air thickened with the copper tang of blo
