Not to fate.
Not to curses.
Not to gods.
If Argyle was cursed…
Then he would rip the curse out by its throat.
CHAPTER 34
Alora
Alora stormed down the corridor toward her chambers, ignoring Hadeon as he escorted her there. He didn’t need a prompt when they reached her door, he simply took his place beside it like a gargoyle carved from living night.
Alora went in, and she slammed the door behind them, leaning against it. Caelum, already sitting at her table, didn’t say a word. He simply remained still, silently waiting as she processed everything she had learned.
She sniffed and wiped at her face, furious at herself for crying. Her throat burned, tears stinging like something shameful. How could Rune make her feel so small? His cruelty found the softest parts of her and crush it.
He didn’t care. Not about Argyle. Not about her people.
Not about her.
But last night had been different. The way he touched her like she was something sacred, danced with her, kissed her. But now? His demeanor had returned to its sardonic, sarcastic self.
He wore that smirk like armor and gods, she hated it.
The shadows curled against the corners of her chambers. Even when he wasn’t here, she couldfeelhim. That low hum in the air, like the pause before a thunderclap. His presence clung to her bones.
“Get.Out.”
Her magic flared white at the command, banishing all traces of darkness. The shadows fled like wisps of smoke, fleeing into the faults in the stone walls.
Her heart pounded as her thoughts spun.
Rune complied…because she forced him to.
Alora stared at the markings now spreading up her arms. They shimmered faintly under her skin like curling paths of white vines. Something was awakening in her, and that frightened her more than Rune ever could. Because part of herlikedthe way it felt.
The power.
The promise.
But where did it come from? She couldn’t have inherited it from her mother. Rune held pieces of this puzzle, she sensed it.
Let him toast to monsters then. She was done pretending he was anything else.
Alora yanked open the curtains wide, the sky turning pink with the sunrise. There, the light will keep him out.
“Princess…” Caelum cleared his throat. “When did your powers manifest?”
She halted in place and turned to him.
Caelum looked pale, his skin drawn tight over his cheekbones, the remnants of his injuries still shadowing him. His armor had been cleaned, but the scent of iron clung to him. Against the dark velvet of her chamber, he looked terribly out of place, like a memory dragged from a world she no longer belonged to. If she ever had.
His gaze lingered on the strange markings along her neck.
And he did not look surprised.
