Novelas de jahzaramina0

Ava POVThe greenhouse still smelled like roses and rain when I finally left it. Damien walked beside me, his hand brushing mine every few steps, like he was afraid I'd vanish if he let go. We didn't speak. There was nothing left to say. The night had cracked us open, and what spilled out was too raw for words.I went to my room as the first gray light crept through the windows. Sleep came in fragments, broken by dreams of serpents and burning roses and a woman with no face calling my name. When I woke, my sheets were tangled around my legs and my throat was dry.The house was already alive with movement. I could hear Marcus downstairs, his voice low and commanding. Damien's laugh echoed from somewhere far off, sharp and hollow. Lucas was probably in the library, buried in blueprints and old records.I checked my phone out of habit. Nothing. I'd almost forgotten what it felt like to get a message tha

Ava POVI couldn't sleep after seeing Lucas in the library.The image of him on the floor, crying in a language I didn't understand, stayed with me like a bruise. I wandered the house for hours, my mind spinning, trying to piece together the fragments of who he really was. The scar. The language. The grief. None of it fit with the quiet, steady man I thought I knew.By the time the clock struck three, I'd given up on rest. I made my way to the greenhouse, drawn by the smell of damp earth and the promise of solitude. It was the only place in the house that didn't feel like a cage.I pushed open the glass door and stepped inside. The air was warm and humid, thick with the scent of roses and wet soil. Moonlight filtered through the panes, casting silver patterns on the stone floor. It was beautiful, in a fragile way. Like everything in my life these days, it felt like it could shatter at any moment.

Ava POVThe days after the war council blurred together. We worked from dawn until midnight—planning, researching, preparing for the gala. Lucas spent hours at the table with blueprints spread out before him. Damien made calls to contacts I'd never met, his voice low and guarded. Marcus drilled the security team, pushing them harder than ever.I was given a role too. Lucas had insisted on it."You need to be able to defend yourself," he'd said. "If something goes wrong at the gala, you can't rely on us to reach you in time."So we trained. Every afternoon, in the library, with the furniture pushed back and the rugs rolled up. Lucas taught me pressure points, escape holds, how to break a grip, how to use an attacker's weight against them. He was patient but firm, correcting my stance, adjusting my hands, never raising his voice.It was during one of these sessions that I saw

Ava POVThe library felt different that night. The broken window had been boarded up, the glass swept away. The books still stood on their shelves, silent witnesses to everything that had happened. But something had changed. The room no longer felt like a hiding place. It felt like a war room.I stood at the head of the long table, my hands flat on the wood. The invitation sat in front of me, its black paper stark against the polished surface. Around the table, the three men waited. Marcus to my right, his arms crossed, his face unreadable. Damien to my left, slouched in his chair, his fingers drumming against his thigh. Lucas across from me, still and watchful, like he always was.I took a breath. "I called this meeting because we need to be clear about how we're doing this. All of us."Marcus raised an eyebrow. "We're doing this?""Yes." I met his eyes. "We. Together. As equals

Ava POVTwo days passed. Two days of lockdown, of whispered arguments in hallways, of meals eaten in silence while the security team patrolled the grounds. The bracelet stayed on my wrist. I caught Marcus staring at it more than once, his jaw tight, his eyes full of something I couldn't name. Fear, maybe. Or anger. Or both.Damien avoided me. Not completely—he was always nearby, always watching—but he kept his distance in a way that felt deliberate. Like he was afraid to get too close. Lucas was the only one who acted normal, if normal was even possible anymore. He spent hours in the library, going through the files we'd found, cross-referencing names and dates, trying to build a map of Margot's network.Then the invitation came.I was in the kitchen, nursing a cup of cold coffee, when one of the security guards knocked on the back door. He held a black envelope in his gloved hand.

Ava POVMorning came slow and gray, the kind of light that made everything look tired. I woke in Marcus's bed, still wearing his shirt from the night before. My body ached in places I didn't want to think about. My eyes were swollen from crying. My chest felt hollow.Marcus was already awake, standing by the window with his back to me. He'd pulled on his pants but nothing else. The scars on his shoulders caught the pale light, silver lines against his skin. He looked like a man carrying too much weight.Neither of us spoke. What was there to say? We'd spent the night clinging to each other like drowning people, trying to find something solid in the wreckage. It hadn't fixed anything. But it had kept us breathing.The door creaked open. Lucas stood in the hallway, his face drawn and serious. "There's something at the front gate."Marcus turned. "What kind of something?"&nb