Dravina POV

I forced myself back into my human form trembling, barefoot, slick with blood and ash. Exhaustion clung to me like a second skin, but beneath it ran something heavier: the weight of everything we had endured, everything still hanging in the air between us. Yet somehow, impossibly, we’d survived.

Around us, our men were securing the last of the enemy, the chaos finally quieting. For a heartbeat, I thought the worst had passed until I caught sight of them dragging Drethos across ...