Hines sulked into the room with his head down, and Asteria didn’t even bother to look up from the bag she was packing for more than a second. “That was pathetic,” she said, wishing she could stab him in the chest cavity like Cadence Findley had every Vampire who’d tried to take her down, save the ones her sister had taken care of for her.

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty. They’re just not strong enough. LIGHTS has depleted our forces, and obviously, they knew we were coming. ...