Smoke clawed at my vision as the warehouse erupted in blue fire, shadows jerking wildly across the wreckage. Asteri agents lay broken or fled into the dark, and my pulse hammered like a war drum as I pushed forward, blade humming with starfire, its edge still wet with consequence. Another ambush. Another bloody snare. I should’ve seen it coming.

Then a scream cut through the chaos—high, raw, unmistakably human. A woman.

I spun and spotted her pinned against scorched steel, two wraiths closing in with that slow, hungry certainty of creatures who thought the kill already theirs. Wrong place. Wrong moment. Wrong gods.

I bolted, boots skidding through ash, and threw myself between her and the monsters. The blade flared blue again, casting her terrified face in stark relief as I planted my stance.

My voice dropped to a low, steady growl.

“Close your eyes if you want to live. This won’t be pretty.”