Both stopped when they saw me.
Selene tilted her head, a faint, sharp smile on her face. “My king… that was a dramatic entrance.”
She was the only one who ever called me that. Ubel wouldn’t do it under threat of death. I smirked. Today might be the day I insist on it.
I stood slowly, letting the obsidian dust fall from my palms.
Ubel stepped forward. “Your appearance… are you done with the games?”
“Are you tired of the games?” I asked softly, “You want me to play with you?”
He shut up.
Good.
Selene circled me like a serpent admiring a kill. “You look like yourself again,” she murmured. “No more of that… pale Torren imitation.”
I didn’t react. She had always wanted me, but she would never make a move because she liked to hold the power in a Faction.
Torren had been a mask. True. But Reverie had looked at him as if he were still someone worth saving.
Reverie again.
Damn her.
Selene moved closer. “Did your little hunt in the tunnels succeed?”
I almost laughed. Neither of these,oh so powerful Aurathions, knew what had happened.
“You seem… unsettled,” she added, eyes narrowing. “Did the girl do something?”
My jaw clenched. The bond pulled again—a phantom tug in my ribs.
Selene’s lips curled, delighting in the thought. “She is Adelaide’s daughter after all. That alone makes her a curse.” She smirked, “Didn’t you have a crush on Adelaide for a bit?”
A cold stillness slid through me. “Careful,’ I said quietly.
Selene froze.
I moved closer to her, taking small, deliberate steps. “You speak of things you know nothing about, like you think you have the right.”
Selene’s chin lifted in defiance. “Adelaide was insufferable. Arrogant. Favored. The academy adored her.” A hiss curled into her voice. “She deserved everything she lost.”
Images flashed behind my eyes—Adelaide laughing in the winter courtyard of Emberhold—Adelaide’s defiance. Adelaide trying to shield Sly from the very fate Selene forced on him.
The memories of her didn’t affect me now. A young guy, she was much too busy to notice at the time.
When I first saw Reverie, I realized that what I felt for Adelaide was simply a boy’s crush on a girl he never had a chance with. My feelings for Reverie were the kind that could build kingdoms... or tear them down. The feelings a man felt for a woman.
My hands curled.
Selene mistook my silence for permission. “And her daughter? That girl reeks of the same naïve purity. I loathe her immensely.”
The bond roared.
My vision snapped sharp—feral, electric, dangerous.
I moved before she realized—one moment across the room. Next, my fingers are squeezing her face.
