The stone stairs were slick with frost and streaked with blood from the fight above. Tanya’s grip on my arm felt like a shackle, her eyes sharp and unsteady. Outside, the world roared with clashing power, but here in the narrow spiral, everything felt cold and still.“You are the rot, Elara,” Tanya hissed, her face close to mine. “Before you, he was a king. Now he’s a butcher who kills for a lie. If I remove you and the boy, he can be whole again.”She slammed me against the wall, her dagger catching the torchlight. Pain shot through my back, but I held her gaze. I saw what she had become, a woman who had given fourteen years to a man who never loved her.“You think killing us will fix him?” I said quietly, even as my heart pounded. “If you destroy his soul, there will be nothing left to save. You won’t have a king, you’ll have a ghost.”She attacked.I moved on instinct. I dropped low and swept her legs, just like Killian had taught me. She hit the stairs hard, the air leaving her l
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