William suddenly turned his head toward the gathered crowd.
The movement was sharp and abrupt, as if something inside him had snapped into focus. His blood-soaked hair clung to his face, strands sticking to his cheek and forehead as sunlight reflected off the wet crimson.
The clearing, which moments ago had been filled with chaos and battle cries, fell into an uneasy silence as his gaze swept across the onlookers.
Katherine stood frozen among them.
Her eyes were wide like the rest, her breathing shallow, and her mind was struggling to process what she had just witnessed.
She had seen violence before. She had spilled blood herself without hesitation.
Yet the sight of William standing there, drenched in blood that was his own, radiating an intensity that felt barely contained, made her shudder.
When his eyes finally landed on her, the air between them seemed to tighten.
She snapped out of her stupor as a voice transmission sounded directly inside her mind.
"Need your dagger."
