He took another step forward, casual as death.
“The one my commander is looking for.”
The mist around Varyth exploded outward. His wings snapped wide, every line of his body screamingminein a language that transcended words. “You’re not fucking touching her.”
Behind Stormborn, the soldiers shifted, weapons rising, bodies tensing in that way that preceded violence.
For a moment, no one moved.
The tunnel held its breath.
Then the cave exploded.
Pure, blinding, white-hot light seared through my eyelids even when I squeezed them shut. The air tasted like ozone and rage and the split second before lightning struck.
The force of it drove me to my knees.
When my vision cleared, when I could see again through the spots dancing across my retinas, the world had fundamentally changed.
Bodies littered the ground.
The soldiers behind Stormborn were just... gone. Not dead in the traditional sense. Dead in the way things died when lightning decided they shouldn’t exist anymore. Scorched and smoking and utterly, completely lifeless.
And Varyth?—
Oh gods, Varyth.
He lay crumpled against the tunnel wall, wings splayed awkwardly, unconscious but breathing. Blood trickled from his nose, his ears. Beside him, Lincatheron had fallen across Fenric like he’d tried to shield him even while unconscious. And Cindrissian hadn’t moved from where Stormborn’s first attack had thrown him.
All of them down.
All of them breathing, but down.
Only Stormborn and I remained standing.
“Perfect.” His voice was silk and satisfaction as he surveyed the carnage with the detachment of someone admiring their own artwork. Lightning danced across his frame, casual and beautiful and absolutely devastating. “Now we can chat.”
“You just murdered your entire fucking squad and you want to chat?”
“What do you want?” The words came out flat, lethal. I wasn’t going to give him anything. Not a single fucking answer.
Merrick studied me for a long moment, lightning lashing across his frame in patterns that should have been beautiful and were only terrifying. “Has he hurt you?”
The question landed so far from what I’d expected that I actually blinked.
“Has Varyth,” he continued, his tone almost conversational. “Harmed you in any way? Threatened you?”
“What the fuck kind of?—”
“It’s a simple question.” He cut in. “Has he given you reason to fear him?”
My laugh was jagged, feral. “What the fuck do you mean do I fear him? You’re the one who just electrocuted an entire cave.”
“I’m asking,” he said with infuriating patience. “If the male currently unconscious behind you has treated you with anything resembling respect. Or if you’re here because you have no other choice.”
Something hot and possessive ripped through my chest. “Varyth has kept me alive when half the realm apparently wants me dead or worse. He’s protected me. If you’re trying to paint him as some kind of enemy, you can fuck off.”
“I’m not painting him as anything.” Merrick’s expression remained neutral. “I’m trying to determine if you understand what you’ve gotten yourself entangled with.”
