Chapter 124

Draven’s POV

It was already morning when the first light spilled over the Eastern horizon. I stepped carefully past the brutal tableau scattered across the land: the bodies of Lucius’s army—both rogues and witches—lay strewn in a grisly pattern around the old pack ruins.

Blood pooled in the earth, seeping into the cracks of ancient stones. More than half of his troops lay motionless, their lives extinguished; a handful had slipped away into the forest, while a few remained alive, bound and guarded. At the heart of the chaos, the news spread like wildfire: Lucius was dead. Relief and triumph surged within me. At last, he would answer for every atrocity he inflicted upon Maeve and our people.

A serene calm settled over me, as though the earth itself exhaled in relief. We had not only defeated the war he