Zander didn’t flinch.
He didn’t blink.
He just stared at the major, calm and unshaken. “You’re right,” he said evenly. “We don’t.”
Then his lips curved, not into a smile, but something far more dangerous.
“But Hein has waited hundreds of years to mate Kaelith,” Zander added. “If you want to try and change his mind, that’s up to you.”
A beat passed.
The major paled slightly.
He looked away first.
But he still found his venom.
“It seems,” he muttered, eyes whipping back to Zander like a curse, “you are destined to roam in the gutter no matter what you do.”
Zander didn’t rise to it.
Didn’t snap back.
He just turned his head, until his gaze found me, unwavering, fierce, and unmovable.
And in that moment, I realized something the major hadn’t yet.
You couldn’t drag someone into the gutter if they were born to burn palaces down.
I moved to the ring after the major ordered me to.
It felt smaller without Kaelith in my head, quieter, but not in a good way. The world dulled when her voice went silent, like a song cut mid-verse. Still, I stepped into the center of the circle, shaking out my arms as Riven rolled her shoulders across from me.
Her stance was lazy on purpose. She wasn’t here to win. Neither was I.
“You okay?” she asked, lifting her fists but not advancing, her eyes unflinching on mine.
“I’m fine.” I mirrored her stance, my own movements loose, uncommitted. “But Kaelith is a bit… distracted with the whole mating thing.”
Riven tilted her head. “That must be why your magic’s so unstable.”
We began to move in slow, practiced circles, feet brushing against packed earth, our shadows chasing each other across the stone. Riven lunged lightly, and I dodged, barely trying.
“Maybe,” I said, avoiding her next strike.Maybe that’s part of it.But lying to her, lying to all of them, felt like swallowing glass. Because it wasn’t just Kaelith’s bond to Hein pulling her away. It was something I didn’t fully understand.
Riven smirked and came in again, throwing a fast, low jab to my side. I turned with it, caught her arm, but then?—
My magic flared.
Bright arcs of electricity snapped across my skin with a sharpcrack, sparking between us before I could rein it back.
Riven gasped and rolled away with a curse, her eyes wide, hair crackling from the static as she scrambled to her feet. “Damn, Ashe!”
“I didn’t mean to—” I started, panicked, magic still singing through my skin like it wanted out.
Then a hand wrapped around my wrist.
I flinched, expecting the jolt to snap through whoever dared touch me.
