Chapter 61

The attack didn't come.

Three days passed, then a week, then two weeks. Scouts reported no unusual movement from Shadowfang territory. No massing of forces, no preparation for assault, nothing to suggest Viktor was planning imminent violence.

The absence of threat was somehow more unsettling than an actual attack would have been.

"I don't like it," Helena said during their morning briefing. "Viktor doesn't strike me as the type to just... give up. Not after losing a battle and having his daughter escape our custody."

"She didn't escape," Arianna corrected. "She left. There's a difference."

"Is there? Either way, we no longer have leverage, and Viktor has whatever...