The house was still waking up slowly. Ivy and Cassian remained trapped in that breakfast loaded with silent tension, each trying to pretend the other didn't exist. Inside, emotions boiled. Outside, however, the territory breathed another kind of restlessness — one that came from the training shed, where the dry sound of blows echoed like muffled thunder.

While Ivy tried to ignore Cassian and Cassian tried to ignore his own reaction to her, someone outside was already completely ...