I didn’t deny it, the memory of her death fresh in my mind thanks to the roses’ toxin, the pain like a scar that had been ripped open.
“Say something!” He shoved me back, his superior strength sending me stumbling. “Are you too good to talk to me?”
The tip of his blade whistled past my ribs, close enough to part the fabric of my surcoat. I spun away, my sword carving an arc toward his stomach, but he caught it on his crossguard. We circled each other in the narrow space, both breathing hard now.
“Valen!” Emmeline’s voice rang out with worry.
Belatedly, I felt the sting over my ribs. His blade must have cut flesh, not just fabric. Emmeline could probably see me bleeding.
“Yes, Valen,” Drudon mocked. “Listen to your little whore. Run while you still can.”
Thatbastard. I pressed forward, my blade seeking the gaps in his defense with newfound fury. He gave ground for the first time, surprise flickering across his face.
But then his foot caught against something—a loose tile, perhaps, or simply his own clumsiness—and he stumbled backward. His guard dropped, leaving his chest exposed. The opening was perfect, exactly what I’d been waiting for.
I stepped forward, my sword poised for the killing thrust, when Cael’s voice echoed in my memory.You’re too eager for a killing strike. It makes you predictable. Easy to lead into a feint.
Something in Drudon’s eyes—a flicker of calculation beneath the apparent panic—made me hesitate. His stumble had been too convenient, his guard too obviously dropped. Even as my rational mind recognized the trap, my body was already moving.
I twisted aside just as his blade came up in a vicious cut that would have opened me from navel to throat. Instead, it caught only air as I completed my turn, my sword finding the gap between his ribs with practiced precision.
Drudon’s eyes went wide, more with surprise than pain. He stared down at the steel protruding from his chest before looking back up at me.
“You—”
“I’m sorry, Drudon,” I said softly, withdrawing my blade. “I wish it could have ended differently.”
His knees buckled, and he hit the marble hard, blood spreading in a dark pool beneath him.
I stood over my brother’s body, my sword dripping crimson onto the pristine floor. The jewel at my hip continued its cursed pulsing, a rhythm that seemed to match my racing heart. When I finally turned to face Emmeline, I saw my worst fears reflected in her expression.
Horror. Revulsion. The look of someone seeing a monster for the first time.
“Emmeline, I—”
She took a step back, her face pale as moonlight.
Explanations and excuses died on my lips. What had I expected when our alliance turned into something more? That after the heist, she’d stay with me forever? That she could love me? I should've known better—Ididknow better, but I'd let hope and longing delude me.
I was a killer. The man she might have cared for was a lie. He always had been.
“We should go,” I said, my voice sounding hollow even to my own ears. “Before someone finds us here.”
She nodded mutely, still staring at me with those wide, wounded eyes. As we stepped over Drudon’s body and continued toward our escape, I couldn’t help but think that perhaps he’d won after all. He’d wanted to destroy me, and in a way, he had. He’d shown Emmeline my true self:
Someone she could never love.
Chapter 39
Emmeline
We entered a set of bedchambers just ten feet past Drudon’s corpse. Valen strode straight to a mirror, reached behind it, and flipped some kind of trigger.
A hidden panel along the wall slid open with barely a whisper, revealing a narrow passage that yawned before us like a hungry mouth. Blue torches sputtered to life along the walls, their cold flames casting eerie shadows that danced and writhed in the stale air.
Even with the torchlight, the passageway stretched into darkness, its stone walls slick with moisture and years of neglect. The air tasted of dust and decay, making my throat close up. Or maybe that was just the memory of Drudon’s final breath, the way his eyes had gone vacant while his blood spread across those pristine marble floors.
I pressed my hand to my mouth, fighting down the bile that rose in my throat. I’d seen death before—too many times in Thallence—but never like that. Never so personal, so intimate. Never someone I knew being killed by someone I...
