Gunnar’s POV

I left the wing with my mother’s words still echoing in my head, and no matter how much I tried to focus on the plan, my mind kept drifting back to Riley. The scent of her, the way she had looked at me, the fear she tried to hide.

It made something inside me tighten in a way I did not like, because emotions made people weak, and weakness had no place in what was coming.

The hallway was quiet, and the guards I passed bowed their heads, but I barely noticed them. I was thinking about the cave, about the beasts, and about the risk I had...