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“When I was twenty-five, I met a merchant that came into The Silliands to sell goods from Redelvtum. Our courtship was innocent in the beginning. I would stop at her booth and buy things just so I could speak with her, get a moment with her. The months passed quickly and by the time her merchant visa expired, we had fallen in love. Before she left to go back to Redelvtum, Malik married us in a secret ceremony. This happened in the spring and I did not see her again until the fall, when choice day came. She chose to become a traveler and it wasn’t until she came back to The Silliands carrying my child, carrying an heir to the throne, that I realized the extreme danger I had put her in.

“I built a home for her on the outskirts of Mornos, moving my mother there with her to help care for my child, help to raise him while I played my role in the House of High. She was the very beat of my heart, and I loved her with every cell I was made of, but that was my weakness. I let myself love, and it got her killed. My father found out about her and my son a year after she came to The Silliands and he murdered them both in front of me while twenty of his men bound me in place with their Uthrens.”

The words caught on the emotions building in his throat, his fingers tightening around mine as a heart wrenching shudder fell from his lips. I listened, staying silent as he drew in a long shaky breath to steady himself before speaking again.

“He burned Celine with Amond tied to her chest, cradled in her arms. She did not scream, she did not make a single sound as she clung to him—soothed him against the flames that were slowly eating them alive as he wailed against her breast in pain, and I looked away. I looked away like a fucking coward .”

My heart cracked, the splintering pieces ricocheting through my chest as rage and pain for him bled out through the crater that had emerged as tears streamed down my cheeks.

“In her last breaths, her last moments alive where she should have seen her husband fighting against the Uthrens, should have seen his eyes and the love and sorrow they held—she saw a boy who could not stomach her pain. Malik took my mother into hiding that very night. Years passed and I grew into a man, hardened and jaded by the cruelties of royal life. When my father, the Queen, and Lord Henrik were killed at the start of the Great War, my birthright to the throne was called into question because I did not have pure royal blood. So instead, I fell into power as the High Priest, and with no pure living heirs to take up the mantel, the hierarchy was changed to put the High Priests and Priestesses in power.”

Dukovich paused, clearing the emotion from his throat as he leaned his head against the cold iron bars.

His voice dropped to a haunting whisper as he spoke again.

“But I was na?ve. I thought I could change things, make life better for the common people of the realm. I did not realize the depths of corruption that ran through the nobility, the things they were willing to do to keep the masses oppressed and revel in their riches. I realized during the war, watching pure blooded Marzog nobility burning travelers in the streets, that if I was going to change what The Silliands was, I would have to become the devil to do it. So I did.”

His fingers tightened around mine as his body shifted at my back, turning to face me. I twisted my body toward him, my muscles aching with the movement as my eyes caught his in the dark, our fingers still intertwined.

“The choices I made, the sacrifices, the betrayals . . . they all led me to the moment you were taken prisoner. I watched them drag you into the pit, kicking and screaming, swearing and fighting back like you were fearless. You looked me in the eye, the man that held your life in his hands and spit in my face.” A thin chuckle slipped from between his cracked lips at the memory.

He lifted his other hand to my skin, sliding up the column of my neck and resting it just beneath my jaw as his eyes hardened.

“I watched them make the very first cut into you, watched them pack the wound with Svech. I knew the pain that caused, knew the agony of what they were doing to you firsthand but still, you did not scream. You closed your eyes, clenched your teeth, and breathed through the torture. I saw Celine in you at that moment, saw her fighting spirit, and this time, I did not look away.”

My heart rose to my throat as he said the words, the pace frenzied and wild.

“I have made so many mistakes, love. Done things that haunt even me. The worst of them, looking away when the woman I loved needed me to be strong. I will not make that mistake again. I will never look away from you, Ataliia.”

For a long moment, we simply stared at each other, his soul laid bare in the silence between us, the intensity in his eyes stealing the breath from my lungs. I swallowed hard, my lips parting to speak but no words came out. I didn’t know what to say, how to respond to what his words inferred.

His thumb brushed over my jaw, the gentle touch a stark contrast to the hardened people we were.

In that moment, I saw him—truly saw him.

Not the cruel High Priest who had let his lackeys torture me, not the cunning schemer playing one of his games, but the boy who had lost everything, and the man who had sacrificed his very soul at a chance at redemption.

“Dukovich, I . . .” My voice trailed off, the words sticking in my throat.

A sad smile tugged at the corners of his lips. “It is all right, love. You do not need to say anything.”

But I wanted to say something, needed to say something. After everything he had just shared, the least I could do was show him some semblance of empathy, offer some shred of honesty.

I did care.

My heart ached for the wounds he had sustained in his life, the horrors and tragedy that built him.

But it was so fucking hard for me to show him.

I inhaled a deep breath, steeling myself. “I’m sorry for what happened to you, to your family. No one should have to endure that kind of pain.”

I knew the words were inadequate when they rolled off my tongue, heard them cut into the quiet and fall so short from what I knew he needed. But they were all I had.

A sudden commotion from down the corridor shattered the moment, the thudding of heavy footsteps and clanking armor growing louder with each passing second. Dukovich’s hand fell from my jaw as we both turned toward the noise, bodies tensing in anticipation.

“They’re coming,” I whispered, fear saturating the edges of my trembling voice.

His fingers tightened around mine. “Listen to me, love. You can survive this. No matter what happens, no matter what they do—you are stronger.” The words poured from his mouth in a frantic stream as the familiar static began to fill my head.

“Ataliia,” he snapped, yanking on my hand as my eyes snapped back to him. “Calm your mind. Breathe and focus.” It was a command and I nodded wildly as light bled onto our floor of the dungeon from the stairwell.

Fear coiled in my gut, cold and sickening as I willed my mind to quiet—pushing away the buzzing building between my ears. The footsteps grew closer, echoing off the damp stone walls as the light blinded me.

I blinked against it as Dukovich’s lips brushed against my knuckles before he released my hand and shifted away from the bars. I followed his lead, pushing myself to my feet on shaky legs just as our cell doors swung open with an ominous groan.

Magic flickered back to life under my skin.

Whatever wards had been created around our cages to stifle our power were broken, or at least opened.

I gathered every grain of magic violently trying to spark back to full power inside my blood and pushed it toward my mind.

I needed to stay calm.

Focus .

Two guards stepped inside Dukovich’s cell, their faces hidden beneath dark helms. In the next breath, their hands were on him, hauling him from the ground and slamming him against the wall as a third guard stepped into my cage.

“Don’t fucking touch me,” I snarled, baring my teeth like a feral animal.

The guard laughed, the sound cold and cruel as he took a step toward me. “Oh, I like this one. She’s got spirit.”

Stay fucking calm.

“Lay a finger on her, and you’ll learn what happens to hands that touch her without permission.” The words were a snarl ripping from Dukovich’s throat as he strained against the guards holding him back.

“Big words from a man in chains,” the guard taunted as he took another step toward me. His lips curled into a vile smirk as his gauntleted hand wrapped around my bicep.

A growl rumbled from Dukovich’s chest as I took a deep breath.

“I’m okay,” I said softly, my gaze locking with his. “I’ll be okay.”

My emotions stilled, calm washing over me as my head fell quiet and my mind sharpened to a daggered point.

The guard dragged me from the cell, my bare feet scraping against the rough stone floor, but I didn’t struggle. I needed to conserve my strength, bide my time until an opportunity presented itself.

I kept my eyes fixed straight ahead, refusing to look back at Dukovich as they dragged him behind me.

I couldn’t risk the outburst I knew would come seeing his broken body being pushed around.

His labored breathing filled the winding corridor, the dank air growing warmer as we stepped into the stairwell and made our way to the surface.

The thrum of magic pulsing through my veins intensified the further we strode away from the cells. Each step allowing tendrils of energy to seep back into my bones and tingle beneath my skin, raw and electric—begging to be unleashed.

The perpetual night the dungeons reveled in gave way to blinding light as we emerged from its depths, the sudden brightness stabbing at my eyes.

My eyes blinked rapidly, trying to adjust as the guards shoved me forward.

As my vision cleared, I took in our surroundings—a grand stone hall with soaring ceilings and tapestried walls.

The crowd of nobles, the House of High’s court, lurked around the edges of the room as if they were watching a performance.

My eyes fell to the center of the room and I swallowed back the shriek clawing on my lungs, choking on it as my stomach bottomed out.

Landers knelt in the middle of the circular room, legs and arms bound behind him. His head slumped forward from the weight of the chains draped around his bare shoulders and on his head—his onyx hair, sat an iron crown.

My eyes scanned him frantically, taking in the sickly hues of his bruised and beaten skin.

Slowly, he raised his head as the guards pushed us toward him.

A snarl scratched at the back of my throat as they kicked the back of my knees and sent them slamming to the ground.

Pain flared through my legs at the contact, cold marble biting into my skin through tattered clothing.

Dukovich groaned beside me as they shoved him down.

Landers’s eyes locked onto mine, fury licking at his irises, a fire of wrath burning hotter than I had ever seen. His gaze flickered to the corner than back to me. He did it again and this time I followed his line of sight.

My heart convulsed against its cage.

They had Cyloe .

She sat in the corner of the room in wolf form, her tail thumping loudly against the marble floor as she eyed me. A woman’s hands groped Cyloe’s fur, her other wrapped tightly around a leash that led to a collar around her neck.

I would fucking strangle her with it.

“Well, well,” a silky voice purred from the obsidian throne atop the dais. My eyes snapped toward it. “The fallen High Priest and his little bird, finally out of their cages.”

The figure leaned forward, casting his gaze down on us. He was handsome in a vile kind of way, with sharp features and eyes that radiated pure malice. A slow smile spread across his thin lips as the High Priestesses on either side of him watched us from behind cautious eyes.

“Oryn,” Dukovich snarled up at him, pushing against the hands that held him in place.

Oryn rose from his throne, the smooth fabric of his robes rustling with the movement as he descended the steps of his perch.

His footsteps echoed through the cavernous hall, each one measured and deliberate.

He stopped before us, his cold eyes roving over our kneeling forms with a mix of disdain and amusement.

“I must say, Dukovich, I expected more of a fight from you. The great betrayer, brought so low.” His gaze shifted to me, a cruel smirk twisting his lips.

“And you, little bird, I’ve heard so much about your fire, your defiance.

Yet here you are, on your knees for me. It is quite a magnificent view. ”

Rage boiled in my blood, searing through my veins.

This little bird was a predator.

And she was about to make him her prey.