Arielle sat across from Damien in the carriage as they both made their way back to Delwig, her brows furrowed in frustration.
She kept muttering under her breath about "reckless triggers" and "damned traps," while Damien simply leaned back, eyes closed, as if the ambush they had barely fought out of hadn't fazed him in the slightest.
The streets of Delwig were alive even at nightfall. Torches lit the fortified walls, and patrols doubled their pace after news of strange movements outside the borders.
When Damien and Arielle arrived at the gate, they stopped and picked up Captain Apnoch before they continued into Delwig.
The Captain rode alongside the carriage, his expression hard, but his gaze kept flicking toward Damien as if measuring him anew.
When the carriage rolled through the military quarter, the guards at the gates didn't even stop them. The moment they saw Apnoch, they saluted and waved them forward.
