Verity's POV

The alarm was loud in the night—a piercing wail that echoed through every corridor, every chamber, every shadow of the fortress. The sound made my teeth ache, made my bones vibrate with urgency.

No time. No time. No time.

Elena and I sprinted through the maze of passages, her hand gripping mine as we navigated turns I'd memorized but had never run at this desperate speed. Behind us, shouts erupted. Guards responding to the alarm, to the fire, to the chaos we'd unleashed.

"The ...