Lucas’s POV
After Kane dismissed us, I walked the halls like a man with fire under his skin. The talk of arrows, rogues and witch burned at the edges of my mind, but what cut through sharper than anything was Kane’s words:
“You leave at dawn with her.”
Ava.
I was to take her to the witch, to guide her, to keep her alive. To bring her back.
The weight of it pressed harder than any armor I’d ever worn. I’d never admit it out loud but part of me feared I might fail. Not because I doubted my own strength, but because Ava was… unpredictable. She carried storms in her veins and no one knew what would trigger them.
I pushed open the door to her chamber quietly.
The moonlight slipped through the open window, laying silver across the room. She was curled up on the bed, her chest rising and f
