THORNE POINT OF VIEW.

“I need to know what they are discussing about.”

I stood at the ridge overlooking the ruins, pretending to study the patrol lines below. It was an easy lie to tell the guards, but not to myself. My eyes kept drifting back to her.

Aria moved through the ruins like she was carved from the same stone, unyielding, fierce in her silence, and burning with that quiet fire only she possessed. She didn’t see me watching her.

Thank the gods she didn’t because I ...