The words hit like a fist to the gut.
“What?”
“You heard me.” His voice drops, cold and final. “You’re nothing. A little exile who thought she could worm her way into my life.”
The room goes silent. Not just quiet.Silent. Like someone hit pause on the entire fucking universe.
People stop mid-conversation. Glasses freeze halfway to mouths. Everyone openly turns toward us, feeding on this moment like it’s the best entertainment they’ve had all year.
Panic claws up my throat. Because if I don’t have the protection of the Royals—if I don’t havehim—then I’m just a target. An outsider. Fair game for anyone.
“What do you mean?” My voice sounds far away, like it’s coming from someone else. Someone weaker. “Legend, I don’t understand. What’s—”
“You want me to spell it out?” He cuts me off, stepping forward, and darkness rolls off him in waves I’ve never seen before. It’s wrong. All wrong. Like something crawled inside him and wore his skin.
I flinch.
Actually fuckingflinch, and I see the exact moment he notices. See something flicker in his eyes—too fast to name—before it’s gone again, buried under ice.
“You’re a witch,” he announces. Loud. Clear. Making sure every single person in this room hears. “Sent by the island to drain me. To take my power. And you almost succeeded.”
My mouth opens. Closes. No words come out.
“She’s not my mate.” He pulls Arabella forward and takes her hand, bringing it to his lips. Kisses her knuckles while staring straight at me. “Arabella is.”
The room erupts.
Voices slam into me from every direction—sharp, accusing, vicious.
“Witch!”
“I knew it!”
“She should be executed!”
“Exile trash—”
“No.” The word comes out strangled. Wrong. I shake my head, wishing it could pull me out of this shitshow. “No, you’re lying. This isn’t—”
I’m about to say Sinner. It has to be Sinner again playing his stupid games, but I feel it. In the bond. In the place where he lives under my ribs, burning and constant.
ThisisLegend.
Not Sinner wearing his face. Not some illusion. Not a trick.
Him.
And he’s destroying me.
My eyes snap to Arabella. She’s smiling. Small. Victorious. Like she just won a game I didn’t know we were playing.
Rage ignites.
I don’t think. Don’t plan. Justmove.
My body launches forward, hand already reaching for the dagger strapped to my thigh, aiming straight for that smug fucking face—
Legend catches me mid-lunge.
