The world doesn’t announce when it’s about to break.
It just… does.
One minute, I’m buckling Emmy into her carrier; the next, the air changes.
I don’t know how else to describe it. Instead of buckling Emmy in the carrier, I hold her close to me.
The tavern is busy. Normal. Someone’s laughing downstairs. Dishes clatter. Life is happening.
And then the back door opens.
I freeze.
Not because someone walks in.
Because someone doesn’t.
No footsteps.
No voice.
Just the soft, wrong sound of a door that shouldn’t be opening.
My heart starts to pound.
I turn slowly, Emmy warm against my chest.
The hallway is empty.
I tell myself I’m imagining it.
Then a shadow moves.
A man steps out of the laundry room.
He’s not one of the Rangers.
He’s not anyone I’ve ever seen before.
He smiles when he sees exactly what I’m carrying.
“Easy,” he says. “I don’t want to scare you.”
I take a step back.
He takes one forward.
“Someone just wants to borrow the baby.”
My blood goes cold.
I open my mouth to scream—
And he lunges.
Everything explodes at once.
Saint comes out of nowhere.
