Faye's POV
Hillary Harry occupied the chair opposite Hardy and me, her posture unnaturally composed.
Under normal circumstances, she would have fixed me with her trademark glare or delivered one of her sharp-tongued remarks. Tonight, however, she remained eerily still, her gaze locked not on me but on my husband.
My husband.
The phrase still felt foreign on my tongue.
Chase broke the silence with a deliberate cough. "My Lord, the creatures have grown more savage than ever before. In just two nights, our losses have exceeded anything we've witnessed. Entire families have been slaughtered. Homes reduced to ash. We—"
Hardy interrupted with a lazy lean against his chair back. "Did you truly risk the journey here, drag your men through beast-infested territory, just to inform me that monsters become bloodthirsty during a beast tide?"
The color drained from Chase's face, his jaw clenching as though he'd bitten into something rotten.
