The corridor hummed with an electric tension, each footstep echoing like a drumbeat heralding a storm. Helena, Ares, and Atlas moved in synchrony, every motion measured, every glance calculated. Lucian’s presence pressed down on the hallway like a weight of history, memory, and danger, yet the trio did not falter. They had faced him before—more than once—and each encounter had left its scars, but also lessons.

Helena’s eyes never left him. She had studied him, learned his habits, his ...