And that was the most unforgivable part. Not that they had failed her, but that even now, standing at the edge of everything collapsing around them, they still refused to see it. Sending Maya was not just strategy. It was intrusion. It was provocation. It was stepping into Nightshade's territory not as guests but as silent challengers, embedding themselves within his ranks and attempting to unravel him from the inside. And whether they admitted it or not, that was war. Because a man like Kade Nightshade would not see it as alliance. He would not see it as diplomacy. He would see it for what it truly was: a move, a threat, a betrayal. And worse, he would know exactly where it came from.
They believed they were moving in silence, that their plans were hidden, layered, and protected by careful execution and distance. But they underestimated one thing, the same thing they had always underestimated. Not just Nightshade, but Dakota herself.
