Chapter 85. Blood Ties and Broken Bonds

Heather POV

My body trembled with fear as the Raven soldiers dragged me into the center of the grand hall. Their numbers were few, but their piercing eyes gleamed with malice, each gaze sharp enough to cut through my resolve. My mother, fragile and worn, was pulled alongside me—her frail form shoved forward by Colt himself. He positioned her in the middle of the hall, where a black altar stood, crafted from the grinning skulls of the dead.

“Kill her, and we will free our men! Kill her, and we will go to war! Rule this world!” Colt’s soldiers erupted into cheers, their bloodlust filling the air like poison.

“What kind of man are you, willing to sacrifice your own mother?” I spat, fury and disbelief cracking my voice. I lunged toward him, desperate to shake sense into the monster he’d become. But before I could reach him, the guard behind me yanked me back with chains. I stumbled, my knees hitting the cold stone floor.

Colt turned to face me, h