Layla had once told Ava that the best way to survive a hostile environment was to blend in. The goal wasn’t to be one of the enemy, but if you convinced them you were one and the same, you were golden.
It was one of the first lessons Ava had learned in the dungeon, and it had proven to be the most valuable. Don’t stand out. Don’t be special. Don’t be a hero.
If Madison’s little pity party were to be believed, Ava hadn’t been doing a very good job of adhering to at least two of the three philosophies, despite her best efforts.
If she was lucky, that was about to change.
Ava slowly breathed in and out three times to steady her nerves. And when that didn’t work, she tried it again. Finally, she decided to hell with it, and pushed open the door to the court’s staffroom.
She
