Terms of Engagement

CASSIA

The air on the island felt heavier now, thick with the scent of salt spray and the looming reality of Dante’s world. I paced the length of the stone balcony, my footsteps a frantic rhythm against the silence of the estate. Every word he’d confessed burned in the back of my mind—a map of a life built on shadows, power, and risks I had only ever read about in novels.

I looked down at my hands