"I've never seen you stand up to him before," she said quietly.
"I've never had reason to." Adrian looked at his shaking hands. "But Hadeon was right about one thing, that I need to prove I'm more than my rank. More than my backing."
"What changed?"
"Everything. Last night, I realized. The villain fights harder than the hero. Because he has to."
☆☆▪︎☆☆
The hidden Safehouse.
The resistance had an emergency meeting again.
Twenty people gathered with the core of the cycle-aware resistance.
Victoria's chair sat empty.
"I've been scrying nonstop. Victoria is... somewhere. Alive, I think. But blocked from my sight." Aria.
"The Huntress?" someone asked.
"Also blocked....I don't know. The future's murky."
"We're wounded," Kaeel said. "But not beaten. We rescued Cipher and killed some of their members, that's a victory."
"But at what cost?" Cipher asked bitterly.
