While Aldrich was busy imposing his non-negotiable offer on Aydin, giving him a chance at redemption under veiled coercion, Valeria was using that same fleeting moment to surge ever forward toward her objective.
She had finally crossed the uneven barricade of raised bricks, each one a stumbling block that slowed her momentum. And now she lept and hovered across the last brick to arrive at her destination.
Unlike the chaotic terrain she had just battled through, littered with bricks of uneven heights and treacherous footing, the path to her destination stretched ahead in a flawless plain. A vast, empty lane stood before her, offering a direct passage to her goal.
Yet at the far end of that unobstructed road, stationed calmly within the goal area, were two adversaries, silent, unmoving, but unmistakably formidable.
