Author's POVThe Sanctum felt like a tomb.They'd made it inside - just - and now they were spread out in the common area in all the various states of physical and emotional collapse. Nobody spoke. Nobody moved unless they absolutely needed to. The silence was heavy, oppressive, and broken only by the sound of pained breathing or the drip of blood on concrete.Richard was on the couch and not yet fully conscious. His nose had finally stopped bleeding, but his face was swollen and bruised from the backlash of his forcefield's destruction. Astoria's remaining tactical team members were attending to him with quiet efficiency, checking his vitals, making sure the damage wasn't permanent.Astoria herself was sitting at the table, her hands folded in front of her, staring at nothing. Her face composed -- years of military discipline had kept her expression neutral -- but her eyes were hollowing. Empty.Marcus and Sarah were dead.Two soldiers she'd trained personally. Two people who'd fough

Author's POVAeris ended the call with Charis."It's done," he said, putting down his phone. "She's sending a team to pick up Marcos and Maya within the hour." They'll be transferred to a safe house outside of the city. Completely off the grid. Protected."Zayan nodded numbly. He had not moved from his corner, had not looked up; he simply sat there with his hand on his bruised throat."You can video call them whenever you want," Aeris continued, trying to offer some comfort. Encrypted communication will be set up by Charis." They won't be cut off entirely from you.""Yeah." Zayan's voice was flat. Empty. "Okay."The common area fell back into heavy silence.Aeris stood there for a moment, with the phone still in his hand, and trying to think of something else to say. Something which would make this easier. Something that would ease the crushing weight of the guilt and grief sitting down on all of them.But there was nothing.They'd just survived an attack that had killed two people an

Author's POVAstoria woke them at seven AM.Not the vicious four-thirty wake-up calls from earlier. Not the kind treatment of letting them sleep till ten. Just--seven. A compromise that came between their tired bodies and the fact that they were running out of time.Nobody argued. They just dragged themselves out of bed, mechanically put on training clothes, and marched down to the training hall like soldiers reporting to duty.The atmosphere was heavy. Oppressive. Like the air itself bound down by whatever had occurred in the last twenty-four hours.Charis's people collected Zayan's siblings at midnight. He'd said goodbye over video call - Maya crying and not understanding why she had to leave, Marcos trying to be brave but obviously terrified, both of them begging for Zayan to come with them.He'd promised he would. Soon. When it was safe.Lied to their faces because the truth - that he might not be alive long enough to see them again - wasn't something a fifteen-year-old, and an ei