Cassian’s Pov;

The city felt different without her. Too quiet, too hollow, like the streets themselves were holding their breath. Every sound scraped at me, the echo of footsteps in the marble halls, the buzz of the radios, the crackle of cigarettes burning down too quickly.

I hadn’t slept. Not really. Not since the moment I found Naomi’s room empty. The rose still haunted me, its pale petals, its thorns buried in my palm.

Every time I closed my eyes, I saw it again, a reminder that she was out there, in someone else’s hands, waiting for me.

Waiting for me to kill.

The war room smelled of paper and...