Rose
The war council's echo hadn't yet faded when we rode into the night. The Ravens moved like shadows, disciplined and sharp, their eyes reflecting the hunger for blood. Beside them, Asher's men were a storm—steel-clad, silent, brimming with controlled violence. Two armies, so different, yet bound by a common goal to crush Adrian once and for all.
I slipped into Chaos, my other skin. That name had been a curse whispered by my enemies, a crown of dread I never asked for but learned to wear. Tonight, Chaos was needed. Tonight, I buried Rose the girl who once laughed with Adrian, who once trusted him.
Cassian stood at my side, the only steady tether in the whirlwind. His eyes caught mine briefly, silently reminding me I wasn't alone. He always knew when the weight threatened to crush me, and his presence was both warm. Then there was Asher, trailing just behind, his gaze heavy even when I wasn't looking. I could feel it on the back of my neck sharp, watchful, unreadable.
We reached the compound Adrian was said to be hiding in. Too quiet. Too easy. My instincts clawed at me. "Stay sharp," I hissed. My men fanned out, wings of shadow.
The first strike came from within.
A Raven clan member. A man who had once sworn loyalty, bled for me, now turned his blade at me, his blade flashing for my throat. Cassian caught it mid-swing, steel clashing, sparks lighting the night. My heart stuttered, not from fear, but from recognition. The traitor had been one of my oldest lieutenants.
Then I heard it.
A laugh. Smooth, sharp, cutting through the dark like a knife I knew too well.
Adrian.
He stepped into the moonlight, alive, more dangerous than memory had painted him. His smile was venom. "You taught me everything, Chaos. Even how to cut you open."
The air turned to fire. My Ravens faltered, confusion rippling like cracks in glass. Betrayal poisoned the ranks. Steel sang as my men fought. Blood spilled, loyalists against traitors.
Cassian pulled me back, shielding me with his body. "Rosie," he murmured, steady even in the storm, "don't you dare break here."
The name hit me like an old wound stitched shut and torn open again. Rosie. No one else called me that. It was his way of reminding me that I was more than Chaos, more than the blood I waded through. But to hear it now, with Adrian's laughter in the background, twisted something sharp inside me.
We fought, but Adrian never stayed long enough to be caught. He struck, vanished, struck again. Like smoke, like the ghost he had become. By the time the dust settled, the ground was littered with bodies some mine, some his. The traitor who had betrayed me lay bleeding, but not dead..
And Adrian was gone.
I stood among the wreckage, chest heaving, blood coating my hands. Rage burned, hotter than any wound. Not just at Adrian. At myself. For letting my guard slip. For forgetting that ghosts don't stay buried.
Cassian's hand gripped my shoulder, grounding me. "Rosie," he whispered, low enough only for me to hear. The world tilted, the weight pressing against me until I nearly let it crush me. Nearly.
But then I caught sight of Asher in the distance. He stood among his men, silent, his eyes locked on me and Cassian. I didn't know what he saw me unravelling, Cassian steadying me, the intimacy of that cursed nickname but I knew the look in his eyes was dark. A storm contained. A silence that promised reckoning.
I turned away before I could decipher it. There was no time for that now.
Instead, I lifted my chin and let Chaos breathe again. "This isn't over," I told them all, voice cold steel. "Adrian thinks he can bleed me with betrayal. But I'll burn him from the inside out. He won't see me coming next time."
The vow tasted of blood and fire. Cassian nodded at my side, loyal and unshaken. Asher's gaze still lingered, heavy as a blade pressed to my spine.
Adrian was alive. The betrayal was real. And for the first time in years, I felt the past clawing at me, threatening to drag me under.
But Chaos does not drown.
Chaos hunts.