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Andrues’s next words were a growl as they left his lips. “I am not your brother.”

Dukovich raised a brow in his direction, a smirk forming as he parted his lips, readying to respond as Cin cut in.

Thank Gods for that woman.

“Whoever it is, we know it’s a woman. We start there,” Cin said, her tone commanding as her eyes scolded Andrues and Dukovich before turning toward the Fallen Ones.

“Go feed your dragons; take them to the infirmary to heal any wounds and get them rested, we will be fighting again soon and they need their strength.”

They did not hesitate to tether from the room as the words slipped from her mouth, like they had been waiting for permission to flee. Landers’s arm tightened around her waist at the audible breath the room took with the loss of their presence.

We could finally speak freely.

Cin turned to Asrai and Yenne, and I could see the exhaustion that seeped into the lines of her face. “Can the two of you go to the Elders’ archives and look for anything you can find on a woman spoken of throughout The Stories that may give us some direction?”

Asrai nodded, pulling Cin’s chin toward her and placing a soft kiss on her forehead before tethering from the room with Yenne by her side.

“We need rest,” Landers started, his voice strained. “The army in Ammord was just a taste of what they will unleash upon us, and it did not include The Silliands’s forces. I suspect they will come in the night, so gather your strength. By sunrise, the realms will be at war.”

“I’m not fucking resting ,” I snapped, my eyes locking on Landers.

The muscle in his jaw feathered. “I am not asking, Ataliia.”

“You really expect me to sleep when my brother was just murdered, when an army is headed toward us and we still know nothing about how to win this?” My words were a snarl now as I took a step toward him.

Landers whirled on me.

“I am your King . For once in your life, do as you are told,” he growled, his eyes hardening as I leaned away from him.

I stared at him for one moment, trying to stop the anger that was rolling off my tongue.

But it was already coming.

“A crown doesn’t make you a King, Landers, your actions do. And right now, your actions are telling me you don’t give a fuck about saving your people—the people you call family.”

Pain flared in his eyes at my words, his jaw clenching as he sucked in a deep breath.

I wanted to take back every word as they fell from the tip of my tongue, swallow the hate that wasn’t meant for him.

He didn’t speak right away, waiting until he had calmed his anger, until the edges of his face had softened.

“I would do anything for my people; I would give my life for them. But none of us are of any use to the ones that cannot fight if we are too exhausted to last through battle, physically or mentally. So do not rest for you, or even me, rest for the people that are counting on you to win this war—to win them their freedom.”

I knew he was right.

But my grief had already turned rotten, had already fermented into rage, and I didn’t know where to put it, didn’t know how to stop it from bleeding onto the only people I had left.

My eyes flickered to Andrues and finally, he met my gaze from across the room.

The same fire burning in his eyes that scorched my own heart, the chasm of secrets and unspoken feelings still yawned between us, but in that moment, all I could feel was his presence, his stare, calming me like it always had.

Soothing the parts of my soul that only listened to him, only reacted to him.

I was acutely aware of the four pairs of eyes locked on me as I breathed through the poison, swallowing the demons that had reappeared far too easily.

“Save your fight, love. We will need that beautiful fury come dawn.” Dukovich’s breath was hot against my neck, trickling down my spine and seeping into me as I nodded in response. I didn’t stop myself from leaning into the feeling, leaning into him .

Andrues’s eyes flashed, a deadly calm settling into his irises as he watched Dukovich’s hand linger on the small of my back, his fingers splaying possessively against my skin, his lips hovering dangerously close to my ear.

Something dark and primal ignited in Andrues’s features, a fury that eclipsed the grief still etched into the lines of his face, and in an instant, he was moving.

He bolted across the room, his boots pounding against the wooden floorboards.

The air crackled with the dark energy flowing from him, tendrils of Death Magic snaking around his muscular arm.

Before anyone could react, Andrues had Dukovich slammed against the wall, his head cracking against the oak paneling with a sickening thud .

His fingers wrapped around Dukovich’s throat, pinning him in place as green and black coils of power inched their way closer to Dukovich’s skin.

The room fell deathly silent, the air pulsing alongside our hearts as we watched the scene unfold in front of us. Landers moved to take a step forward, but Cin held him back.

“Do not ever fucking touch her again,” Andrues snarled, his face mere inches from Dukovich’s, his sapphire gaze burning holes into him. “She is not yours to comfort, not yours to claim after the hell you have put her through.”

I stood rooted to the spot, my heart hammering against my ribcage as I stared at them.

They would fucking kill each other if we let them.

I had never seen this side of him, never heard the raw possessiveness currently emanating from his voice, the unbridled jealousy etched into every line of his face. It stole the breath from my lungs.

Dukovich didn’t struggle against him, instead a sneer twisted his lips even as his face reddened from the lack of oxygen.

“And she is yours?” he choked out, derision dripping from every syllable. “Jealousy does not become you, brother ,” he taunted.

“Andrues, stop.” Cin’s voice cut through the tension, her tone sharp and commanding. “We don’t have time for this. Let him go.”

For a long, tense moment, Andrues didn’t move, his gaze boring into Dukovich with an intensity that could melt steel. Then, with a disgusted scoff, he released his grip, shoving Dukovich away from him.

“Tell me, Dukovich, when you kissed her, did you taste the death I left on her lips for you?” Andrues snarled.

My cheeks flared with heat as my eyes met Cin’s. She raised a brow at the revelation and I quickly pulled my gaze away.

“Ahh,” Dukovich started, amusement curling around the disdain in his tone. “I think we kissed different lips, mate.”

My stomach fell to the fucking floor.

A growl ripped from Andrues as he whirled toward Dukovich, a blast of green and black power shooting from his palm. Dukovich ducked just in time, barely missing the death that was meant for him as it blasted through the wall.

“Andrues!” I hissed, my voice slicing through the air like a blade.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I took a step toward him, so many emotions warring underneath my breasts as my palms connected with his chest and shoved him back.

“You have no right. We are friends, remember? Friends. You’ve made that extremely clear. ”

“Ataliia . . .” he breathed, my name falling from his lips like a prayer and a curse all at once.

“What?” I snapped, my eyes narrowing on him.

It all came pouring out then, everything we’d never said to each other. All the things we kept hidden behind the fear of letting someone in. Every wall he had erected to keep me at a distance went up in flames.

“I do not want to be your fucking friend, Ataliia.” His words were a growl as the room narrowed down to just us, everything else fading into the background as the weight of his words settled over me, seeping into my skin and branding themselves onto my very bones.

All I could see was him.

All I could hear was the desperation in his voice, the fear plaguing his words.

The sound was fucking beautiful.

His chest heaved. “You are tangled into every corner of my soul. You are weaved so deeply in my being that I would not survive being ripped from you, not again.”

I stared at Andrues, his words hanging between us like a live wire, crackling with an intensity that threatened to ignite the very air we breathed. His gaze consumed me, puncturing every defense I had ever built around my heart—my soul.

He took a step closer, his hand reaching out as if to touch me, but hesitating just a hair’s breadth away from my skin. I could feel the heat radiating off him, the energy that pulsed between us whenever we were near each other.

“Ataliia.” Again, he said my name, but this time with a reverence that could have brought me to my knees.

My pulse thundered in my ears, my lips parting to respond but no sound came out. Like a bucket of ice water dumped over my head, the awareness of the others in the room came crashing back.

I sucked in a sharp breath and stepped back, putting distance between us even as every cell in my body screamed in protest. My gaze flickered to Dukovich involuntarily, taking in the hard set of his jaw, the storm brewing in his eyes.

Suddenly, the air was too thick, the room too small.

I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t fucking think .

It was too much.

I was caught in a web I didn’t know I was weaving. Torn between two halves of my heart—two paths stretching out before me. And beneath it all was the suffocating grief, the gaping bloody hole where Wren used to be.

I couldn’t do this.

Not now, not here. I needed to get out. I needed air and space and time.

Without a word, I turned on my heel and ran.