Page 94

They were quiet, but not quite enough to sneak up on a predator.

My voice died with the final note and the pain faded along with it. I remained kneeling in the snow, breath unsteady as the breeze carried the scent of mortality and fear.

I turned in time to see steel flashing through the air, its edge slicing straight for my throat. Gripping my sword from its sheath across my back, I snapped it over my head. Steel crashed into steel, the force of the strike making my attacker stumble backwards.

Brown, assessing eyes stared down at me, clearly trying to piece together why I was here.

Dark braids, already failing to tame her unruly curls, hung over the washed-out grey of her Iron Guard uniform. A uniform that was covered in not only the blood of monsters, but Mortals.

I knew this Mortal. I had let her run from me in my dungeon while I had tortured her king.

Dreya.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Trust

Lyra

The weight of my memories pressed against my palm, the tarnished silver heart taunting me with what I had thought I had wanted.

“What if your ignorance is the only thing keeping you safe?” Helion’s words echoed through my mind.

For one heartbeat, nothing happened. I stood frozen in the centre of the maze with the weight of the unknown threatening to crush me.

Then Astaroth’s magic invaded me. It slammed into my chest with enough force to steal the breath from my lungs, cold and ancient and wrong. My hand clenched tighter around the locket as the suffocating magic took away my senses one by one.

Sound. Touch. Smell. Taste.

Gone.

A moment of nothing lasted an eternity, until the golden flicker of candlelight assaulted my eyes.

I stumbled, breath crashing into my lungs as my boots hit solid ground.

White walls. Gold candlelight. The faint scent of smoke, silk, and him.

We were back in Helion’s chambers.

Helion stood next to me, head bowed, brown strands casting shadows over golden-flecked eyes that refused to look at me.

He crossed the marble floor with slow, heavy steps, each one carrying something defeated I did not know how to name.

“Helion,” I started softly, my fingers tightening around the locket. “Our bargain⁠—”

The door slammed hard enough to rattle the walls, cutting off my words and leaving me alone in the silence of whatever hurt I had carved into him.

I let out a long forceful sigh, as if I could exhale the tension threading through every inch of my body.

I had not expected him to walk away from me. But worse, I had not expected the silence he left behind to sting.

My grip tightened around the locket before I forced my feet forward, storming toward the washroom door and banging the heel of my hand against the wood.

“What’s wrong, Riven?” I called, sweetening his stolen name until it cut. “Trickery is only okay if you are the one to deliver it?”

Nothing but silence answered me back.

I let out a frustrated shriek, storming to the armoire and pulling out a simple white dress.