Page 10

And that’s when Riven moves. I feel it before I see it. That still, precise violence he carries in his stride. One step, then another.No rush. No hesitation. But final. I glance sideways—and there he is, cutting through the static between Luna and me without so much as a word.
He doesn’t look at me. His focus is on her. Luna doesn’t notice him at first. She’s too locked on me, too wrapped up in whatever she thinks she’s seeing. But when Riven steps in front of her, shielding her with his body, her gaze snaps up. She doesn’t protest. Doesn’t ask why. She just lowers her hand slowly, like instinct is telling her to trust him even before reason catches up.
My lungs finally expand. Just barely. Enough to breathe.
I hate him for it.
And I’m grateful.
Because if she had touched me…
I wouldn’t be here.
Riven
Lucien doesn’t panic. I’m not sure he even knows what that word means. He’s the kind of man who plans five moves ahead in case someone flinches. But right now, watching him from ten paces back, I see it. His body locked, breath too shallow, pupils blown wide with something even Dominion can’t hold down.
He looks like a fucking ghost.
Not in the poetic sense. He’s pale, yes—blood seeping from one nostril, but it’s hiseyesthat give it away. Wild, bright, not all here. He’s jerking like something inside him is pulling strings that don’t belong to him, his stare fixed on Luna with the kind of heat that shouldn’t come from a man being dragged by a dead woman’s leash.
And Luna, of course, is stepping closer. Her hand lifting.
Because she doesn’t see what I see.
I don’t let her get there.
I cut the space between us fast and quiet. One arm across her ribs—not rough, but final. She stops, sharp breath pulling in like she’s going to askwhy, but I don’t look at her. My gaze is locked on Lucien. He’s twitching, locked in place like he’s fighting something with every breath. And she’s too fucking close to see the noose tightening.
“Silas. Elias. Get her out of here,” I snap without looking back.
There’s a beat. I hear Elias scoff, Silas shifting beside him, always the troublemakers. But even they can feel it. The wrongness in the air. The bite of something too old and too hungry breathing through Lucien’s bond. And for once, they don’t argue.
Silas steps in first, light on his feet for once, murmuring something to Luna that I don’t hear. Elias follows, and whatever joke he starts to make dies halfway out of his mouth when he sees Lucien’s face.
Good.
They should see it too.
Because this isn’t just Branwen pulling at an old thread. This is a goddamn reckoning. And if Luna touches Lucien now, he won’t just break—he’llshatter.
I wait until she’s far enough. Just enough distance that her scent doesn’t haunt the air between us. Just enough space for the edge of her bond to pull back from Lucien’s unraveling one.
Lucien exhales like he’s been holding his breath for hours. He hunches forward, hands braced on his knees, chest heaving, blood dripping down his face in thin, hot trails. Then he throws his head back and roars.
“Fucking bitch!”
His voice cracks across the courtyard like lightning striking dry stone. The word reverberates—too loud, too real. Like he’s beenwaitingto say it. Like it’s the only thing he has left.
“She sealed up myfucking mouth!”
He snarls the words, venom-soaked and raw, fists clenched so tight his knuckles split open.
I don’t move.
He’s not looking at me. Not really. He’s looking at the space she filled, the one Luna stepped into, the one Branwen couldn’t bear to watch someone else claim.
He wipes the blood with the back of his hand, smearing it across his jaw like war paint. His eyes are rimmed in red now, not just from the nosebleed. She pushed harder than I thought possible.