Ember of Defiance

AUDREY'S POV

My eyes snapped up to Lidia’s face. No. Not this time. Not after everything. The memory of Maya’s empty room, the hollow stillness that followed, still haunted me, but it no longer had the power to crush me the way it once did. I cared too much now, too many people depended on me. Hazel believed in me. Damian stood by me. And Cora… Cora’s tiny hands wrapped around my finger in the dar