The left one, where the cluster of brown hid near the edge, had changed. Grown. Thin, dark lines radiated outward from her pupil, a world eclipsed by its own shadow.
That’s where Ronan got lost.
It looked just like the painting that once hung in his father’s study, not the radiant land of the Gods, but the one that rose after ruin.
The one that promised rebirth.
The pupil shifted, a slow, conscious ripple, movement alive beneath the surface. Something was waiting there,caged.
His head tilted, body leaning in as the world contracted to the pulse between them. He didn’t know what she saw reflected in his eyes, if she caught the confusion laced beneath the anger.
If she did, she didn’t shy from it.
She was the most dangerously unhinged creature he’d ever met. And fates burn him, if he hadn’t been destined to destroy her, he might’ve already fallen.
She broke the spell first, springing to her feet, racing toward the tents. Elva followed, calling her name once before slipping inside.
Elysian’s hand hovered at his dagger as they passed, nostrils flaring; anger carved new edges across his face. The crowd thinned, disappearing into their own tents, leaving only the rain and the trees as Ely stalked toward him.
“You should’ve ended her when you had the chance,” he said. “We don’t need these rebels. Kill the Viper, and we’ll finish off the king ourselves.”
Ronan slid the chain beneath his shirt with a practiced motion, hiding more than metal. “Not yet.”
“This isn’t a game.” Ely jabbed a finger toward the camp. “She’s a feral animal.”
Ronan brushed his thumb over the ridge on his leg where the wound had sealed. “Is it not?”
“Shebityou,” he snarled. “In front of all of them. If she hadn’t stopped, you’d be dead. And I’d have ripped her apart right after.”
“You worry too much, brother.”
Elysian scoffed, “You’re stalling. Anything to avoid going back to Ryuu. Find another excuse, kill her and let this end.”
Flame surged beneath Ronan’s skin, the damp vanishing in a fizz of steam.
“Let her rise again,” he said. “Let them follow her to the place where this ends.”He pulled his jacket over the scars she’d left, each mark hidden but not forgotten.
Cursing, Elysian threw his hands in the air.
Ronan’s own hand closed into a fist, smoke bleeding through knuckles. “Then—” A breath. A vow. “I’ll end the Viper.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
Verena
ELVA’S FOOTSTEPS DRIFTED ACROSS THE TENT as she moved to where I sat on the floor. Ice kissed my knuckles where she pressed the thin fabric into the swell of my hand, her hush silencing my hiss from the cold shock.
“Oh!” Elva blinked, like something had just caught up to her. “I almost forgot.” She turned, rifling through a pack on the floor before pulling something free.
A dagger.Mydagger.
The ruby at its hilt caught the light as she held it out, and for a second, I swore it glowed.
“How did you get this back?” I asked her quietly.
“I think Wells found it. He was at Gemma’s cottage when Duke and Rook came looking for you. He gave it to me when we got here. Said I should keep it since you…” Her voice faltered and she swallowed, moving past it with a small, uneven breath as she passed the dagger into my hand. “Anyway, we both know I’m not the weapon type. So please, I beg you, take it back.”
My fingers closed around the hilt. And while the world didn’t necessarily shift, something inside of me did.
