[Lavinia's POV — Eastern Forest Road—Nightfall After the Ambush]
The forest still smelled like smoke.
Embers snapped in the underbrush, hissing as if the earth itself were angry. My soldiers were clearing debris, checking wounds, steadying horses—but beneath it all…
Silence.
A sharp, waiting silence. Not peace. The kind of silence that belongs to predators hiding in the trees.
The kind that meant danger hadn't left—It was watching.
Haldor hadn't calmed. Not even a little. He stood near the center of camp like a storm trapped in human form—jaw clenched, eyes burning, every muscle coiled as if ready to kill anything that breathed the wrong way.
Then—
"Your Highness…" Colonel Zerith stepped forward, helmet tucked under his arm, face tight. "We've… captured the villagers who caused this riot."
I flicked my gaze toward the bound figures being dragged forward through the smoke.
