Lucian's Pov
By the time the first light of dawn broke across the horizon, casting long, golden fingers over the wreckage of the fortress, I was already dealing with the aftermath. The smell of blood clung to the grass like it had always belonged there. The air was thick with silence—the kind of silence that followed chaos, not peace. The kind that pressed against your ribs and made it hard to breathe.
I hadn't slept. Couldn't afford to. Not with everything left to do.
