The marble beneath my feet felt cold, slick with blood, yet I stood rooted as she drifted closer, her perfume overwhelming now, cloying as rot-sweet fruit. "I hate you, Narine," she hissed, almost tenderly. "For no reason. Just because every time I look at you, I see the life I was told I could never have. And I want to rip it from you. Strip the glow, the crown, and the whispers of destiny. Leave you nothing but a husk." I forced a breath, tasting her venom in the air. "Then come and try," I whispered. "But know this, Cerys, whatever's in me now doesn't scare half as much as what you've become." Her laugh bounced down the marble hall. "Oh, Narine," she crooned, drawing a thin, curved blade from the folds of her ruined pants, "that's exactly what I hoped you'd say." "You made the wrong choice," I whispered, the words clawing their way up my throat. "You walked in here alive, Cerys, but you won't walk back out with it. You hurt innocent people.
Last Updated : 2026-01-29 Read more