Whether it was a trap or a miracle, he was willing to gamble, because Shay's life was on the line—and the woman trapped with her.
"I'll go with the first team."
Ares didn't raise his voice. He didn't need to. The room shifted the moment he spoke.
His eyes were locked on the detailed diorama of Mount Ourea spread across the long mahogany table. The handcrafted 3D terrain—jagged cliffs, dense forest ridges, a thin river winding through and separating Mount Ourea and Mount Roca—looked almost beautiful. Deadly, but beautiful. Better than the digital map glowing on the wall.
From above, the mountain looked manageable. Calculated. Contained.
In reality, it was none of those things.
Ares studied the miniature slopes like a general surveying a battlefield. His expression was unreadable, carved from something harder than stone.
