★ BUTTERFLY POV ★
Twelve days had passed after the 'failed mission,' and the Clan leader had requested my presence immediately after I woke up.
And here I stood in the long hallway before the Clan leader's office door, like a monument of the entire earth.
The light under his door glowed faintly. For the first time after the mission, the air felt so thick that even my lungs refused to draw in oxygen.
I placed my hand on the door, and knocked once.
"Come in." His voice cut through the silence; it was low, distant, and cold. Though it wasn't loud, it roared through my bones like thunder in a deep cave. My breath hitched; sweat gathered at my temples. With the creaking of the door, I stepped inside.
The Clan leader sat behind his desk, motionless, seated at the far end of the room covered in dark, only his eyes visible as they locked onto me like a hawk sizing up a broken-winged prey.
His silence was shocking, and I felt it pressing the life out of me through every second.
