Page 182 of His Ruthless Match

I didn’t need to. I could still see her face.

Fractured, broken. The chaos around her was useful. She wasn’t the cause of the storm—just the first tremor before the ground gives way.

We ended the meeting like we always did. No farewells. No thanks. Just the retreat of monsters into deeper shadows.

But I stayed behind.

The torches dimmed. The spellfire guttered low. I looked out across the ancient runes etched into the chamber floor—marks from a war no one survived untouched.

Correction. Cleansing. Control.

They tossed those words like arrows. But I knew them for what they truly were.

The strays would not be erased quietly.

And as for the girl...

She was no thread to be trimmed. She was the match.

And matches didn’t flicker for long.

They light. They catch. They consume.

I turned and stepped from the chamber, my cloak whispering behind me.

Let them underestimate me, too.

Because in the quiet of my mind, where no eyes could reach, I had already begun to choose.

And soon...

I would choose fire.

Thank you for reading Eva & Jareth’s story…

You’ve made it through the fire—through teeth bared and hearts guarded, through all the fury, fear, and the wild, aching need neither of them wanted to feel.

This was never meant to be love.

But it clawed its way in anyway.