Page 126

I grin, slow and sharp, like I already know I’ve won this round. “Ridiculously married to you, sweetheart.”

Her eyes narrow, but there’s no heat in it—just the kind of fond, sharp ache she only lets show when she thinks I’m not paying attention.

“You’re supposed to be my quiet one,” she mutters.

I drop my mouth to her neck, dragging my lips slow along the curve of her throat, grinning against her skin. “You married wrong.”

Her fingers curl into my hair like she’s trying to ground herself, like she’s still waiting for the world to tilt out from under her. I feel the way her pulse skips beneath my mouth, the way her body hums sharp and soft at the same time.

And I make sure my voice stays light when I add, “Besides, honeymoons are overrated. You’ve already got the best part.”

She huffs a laugh, but her eyes meet mine then—bright, dangerous, soft in a way she only ever is with me.

“And what’s that?” she asks quietly.

I drag my thumb across her jaw, lean down so my mouth brushes hers like a secret.

“Me.”

Riven

My hands move without thought, fingers digging into the half-formed stone, the rock grinding beneath my touch like it remembers what it used to be. It should be mindless work—stacking, shaping, calling the earth to rise and settle beneath me—but it never is. Not when I’m this wound up, this furious, this full of the things I can’t say out loud without tearing something apart.

Each stone I place is a curse under my breath. Each line of mortar crackles with the weight of the day, the weight of the fucking council breathing down our necks like we’re the problem when they’re the ones too busy counting bodies and bending rules to notice the world is rotting beneath them.

I can’t stop thinking about it—the way Keira looked at me like she could even stand on the same ground as Luna, like she had the right to demand answers from us after everything that’s happened. I told her where to shove her entitlement, clear and sharp, because I don’t play politics, I don’t kiss the ring, and I sure as hell don’t take threats from council daughters who’ve never bled for anything in their lives.

She threatened me.

Me.

And I should’ve torn the fucking Hollow down just for the insult.

The stone beneath my hands fractures, cracks snaking sharp and fast through the structure like a wound spreading open.

Luna’s voice cuts through the hum in my head, soft but sharp as ever.

“Riven,” she calls behind me, her voice threading through my spine like it always does, “you’re breaking the stone.”

I freeze, chest tight, hands flexing useless at my sides because of course I am. Of course she’s the one who sees me slipping when I think I’ve got a handle on it.

I drag in a breath through my teeth, forcing my magic to settle, forcing the stone to mend beneath my touch. The cracks smooth over, but the damage is already done. I’ve ruined the symmetry, fractured the work without even noticing.

I glance over my shoulder, and there she is.

Barefoot, loose shirt half hanging off her shoulder, eyes sharp and dangerous even when she looks like she just rolled out of Elias’ bed. She’s watching me, that look on her face like she can see right through me, see how badly I want to burn everything down just to make the weight in my chest disappear.

“You’ve been out here for hours,” she says, voice quieter now, but not soft. Never soft.

“Someone’s gotta rebuild this place,” I mutter, wiping the dust from my palms even though it won’t come off. “Might as well be me.”

She crosses her arms over her chest, hip cocked like she’s already preparing to argue, and I hate how much I fucking love her like this—sharp edges, narrowed eyes, her power thrumming wild beneath her skin now that the fifth crest’s settled into her.

“You’re not going to fix what’s wrong with your fists,” she says evenly, chin tilted like she’s daring me to disagree.

I snort, turning fully toward her now, wiping sweat from the back of my neck. “Yeah, well, politics aren’t gonna fix it either.”

She smiles then—slow and dangerous, the kind that’s all teeth—and my pulse spikes stupidly in my throat.