A dangerous shadowpassed over Ashterion’s features, but hedidn’t react.
Xyliria, however,smiled as she slashed.
Fire erupted across my face, a searing line from my cheekbone to my jaw. The force of the strikewhipped my head to the side, my vision bursting white with pain.
A slow trickle ofwarm blooddripped from the wound, sliding down my neck. Iswayed, refusing to make a sound.
Xyliriaexamined her work, lips curving with satisfaction.
“Oh, that will scar,” she said, pleased. “How fitting.”
The moment she stepped away from me, the wall of shadows dissipated. Shaelith and Darian snapped back into view. Shaelith was on her knees, her arm thrown across Darian’s trembling body as if she could shield him from something she couldn’t see. Her eyes darted wildly until they locked on me. Relief warred with fury in her expression.
Darian was conscious, barely. Blood slicked his arms, his back, pooling beneath him in dark, gleaming smears. He twitched once, a raw sound escaping his throat, but he was alive.
Ashterion finally spoke, with a smooth, silken drawl. “I do love watching you work.” His midnight gaze drifted lazily over Xyliria, his expression one of almost indulgent amusement.
A chill slithered down my spine. I had assumed he was her weapon, her pet, her monster on a leash. But now—I wasn’t sure.
Xyliria’s smirk deepened, unsurprised by his praise. And perhaps, it wasn’t praise, but an understanding.
Ashterion sighed as though even acknowledging me was beneath him. “You mistake my appreciation for a leash.”
Slow, quiet dread coiled in my chest.
“But if you wish for me to prove my capability for harm,” he was still calm, still terrifying, “I’m happy to oblige.”
I bared my teeth, ignoring the sting in my cheek. “You’re nothing but her dog.”
His expression shifted. Shadows slammed into me. Pain erupted like a thousand knives sinking into my skin. A strangledgasp escaped my lips as dark tendrils coiled around my limbs, my ribs, crushing, suffocating.
And then—a whisper.
Soft, curling beneath the pain, threading through the black tendrils constricting my throat.“Stop. She will kill them if you don’t.”
Istilled. My mind reeled, but my bodyfroze instinctively, muscles locking beneath the weight of the shadows.
The words had been a breath against my ear.Not Xyliria’s.
His.
Iforced myself to stay still, forced my jaw to unclench even as the pain pulsed beneath my skin.
Xyliria’s laughter rang out. “Oh, look at her squirm. Perhaps you’re not as tame as I thought, husband.”
Ashterion’s expression remained impassive, but the shadows loosened enough for me to draw a ragged breath.
“Shall I continue?” he asked, his voice a low purr.
Xyliria waved a hand dismissively. “No, I think that’s enough for now. We wouldn’t want to break our new toys too quickly.”
The shadows receded instantly, leaving me gasping and shaking on the marble floor. I knew Shaelith’s desperate gaze was on me, could hear Darian’s laboured breathing nearby, but I couldn’t bring myself to look at them.
“Take them back to their cell,” Xyliria commanded.
As the guards hauled us to our feet, I glanced up at Ashterion. His midnight eyes held mine long enough for the moment to tighten, and I saw a breath of something behind his mask. Regret? Determination? I had no fucking idea.
The guards dragged us back through the winding corridors, their grips bruising as they shoved us forward. My leg screamed in protest with every step, the fresh cut on my face throbbing in time with my pulse. Beside me, Shaelith stumbled, her breathcoming in pained gasps. Darian was barely conscious, his body limp between two guards, leaving a trail of blood in our wake.
