Rhea

The summons came at dawn.

Her door opened without warning, and two guards stepped inside. Their faces were stiff, their eyes cold. One of them spoke only two words.

“It is time.”

Rhea’s stomach tightened. She had known this moment was coming. She had heard it in the whispers, in Nyla’s warning, in Lucien’s silence. But hearing the words out loud, it still made her chest hurt.

The guard’s voice still echoed in her ears as she stood. For a moment, ...