One second I’m airborne, the next I’m flying backward. My body slams into the far wall with enough force to crack stone. Pain explodes across my spine, skull, and ribs. The air punches out of my lungs.
I hit the ground in a heap, gasping, and the room spins.
Fuck.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
I try to move. My body won’t respond, locked in place like invisible chains just snapped around every limb.
Sinner.
His magic crawls over my skin, holding me down. I feel his lips brush my ear. “You look hot as fuck in that dress.” His breath ghosts across my neck. “Shame you’re gonna die tonight. Would have loved to take a turn on you.”
My heart stops.
Legend steps forward, slow and deliberate, each footfall echoing in the sudden silence. The crowd parts for him like the sea. I can’t move, can’t breathe, can’t do anything but watch as he closes the distance between us.
He crouches down at eye level. Close enough I can see the blackness swirling in his gaze, the cruel twist of his mouth.
“You’re nothing,” he says again. Quiet. Just for me. “You never were.”
Fear. Every inch of insecurity crawls its way over my skin. I shrink inward, my mind collapsing around me.
Then he stands, and walks back to Arabella.
He cups her face. Tilts her chin up. And kisses her.
Gentle. Soft.
Claiming.
The kind of kiss that saysminein a language everyone understands.
My vision blurs. Tears? Rage? I can’t tell anymore.
The crowd starts moving. Closing in. I catch the glint of steel—knives, swords, magic crackling in too many hands. They’re coming for me. All of them. And I can’t move. Can’t fight. Can’t—
My fingers twitch. Just barely. Enough to feel the dagger still strapped to my thigh.
Come on.Come on.
Legend pulls back from Arabella, whispers something in her ear that makes her laugh, then glances over his shoulder.
Our eyes meet.
For one heartbeat, something flickers in his gaze. Something that looks like—
It’s gone.
He turns away, taking Arabella’s hand, leading her toward the doors.
“I’m going to fuck my mate,” he announces to the room. Casual. Bored. “Do what you want with the exile.”
The crowd surges forward.
Weapons raise.
Magic ignites.
