I don't care.
"I should kill every single one of you." The threat hangs in the air, heavy as smoke. "Raze this entire village to ash. Make you all understand what it feels like to be helpless while someone hurts you."
My wings spread wider, casting shadows across the square. Lightning arcs between the primary feathers, pale blue and lethal. The temperature drops another ten degrees. Frost creeps across the packed dirt, spreading outward from where I kneel.
"Lorenth."
Senna's hand touches my face, turning me back to her. Her fingers are still trembling but her touch is gentle. Grounding.
"They aren't worth it." She swallows, throat working around what has to be pain. "Please. I just want to go home."
Home.
Not to Mira's apartment that was once her safety. Not to some temporary refuge. Home. My home. Where she woke in my arms this morning and agreed to bond. Where we made love and talked about protection and permanence.
She still wants that. Even with the bond muted. Even after everything that just happened.
The realization hits harder than any physical blow. She's choosing me. Not because magic demands it. Not because some cosmic force tied us together. But because shewantsto.
The rage doesn't disappear—still simmers hot and vicious beneath my skin—but it settles. Banks like coals waiting to reignite.
I gather Senna carefully, one arm beneath her knees and the other supporting her back. She weighs nothing. Less than nothing. Just this fragile, precious thing that I failed to protect.
Never again.
I rise to my full height, wings still spread, and let my voice carry across every corner of the square. Let it reach every house, every shop, every person who thought they could harm what's mine.
"Listen carefully." Magic amplifies the words, making them boom like thunder. "No one comes near her. Ever. You don't speak to her. Don't look at her. Don't even think her godsdamned name."
The crowd shrinks back further. Several people drop to their knees. One woman is openly weeping.
"If anyone—anyone—tries to follow her, tries to claim she owes them something, tries to suggest she should be punished for leaving..." I bare my teeth in something that's definitely not a smile. "I'll come back. And what I did to him—" I jerk my chin toward Darian's broken corpse, "—will look like mercy compared to what I'll do to you."
Frost continues spreading across the ground, creeping up the sides of buildings. Ice forms in sharp spikes wherever my magic concentrates, beautiful and deadly.
"She belongs to me now." The possessiveness in my tone would probably horrify anyone who doesn't understand what that means. But Senna just curls closer, face pressed to my chest."My mate. Mywifein every way that actually matters. And I protect what's mine."
One final pulse of magic—enough to shatter every window facing the square, to crack stone, to make the earth itself tremble.
"Remember this." I meet the eyes of everyone I can see, making sure they understand. "Remember what happens when you cross me."
Then I crouch slightly, muscles bunching as I prepare to launch skyward. Senna's arms tighten around my neck. I can feel her heartbeat against my chest—too fast, still frightened, but steady. Alive.
The bond remains muted but I don't need it right now. Don't need magical reassurance when I can feel her breathing, when her fingers dig into my shoulders like I'm the only solid thing in her world.
My wings sweep down in one powerful stroke.
We shoot into the sky.
The village falls away beneath us—the square with its bloodstained dirt, the frozen crowd, Darian's corpse already attracting carrion birds. I don't look back. Don't care what happens next. Whether they burn the body or bury it or leave it to rot.
All that matters is the woman in my arms.
Wind screams past us as I climb higher, pushing through clouds until the village is just a smudge on the landscape below. Senna's grip never loosens. She doesn't look down either. Just keeps her face pressed to my chest, breath coming in short gasps that might be sobs or laughter or shock.
My magic wraps around her automatically, shielding her from the worst of the cold. Creating a pocket of warmth even as we slice through freezing air. The bond pulses faintly—still dampened but trying to reach through whatever blocks it.
Soon,I promise silently.Whatever they gave you will wear off and I'll feel you again.
