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NARANUS

T he stronghold is bleeding.

Smoke curls through the sky, thick and cloying, carrying the scent of scorched stone and flesh. The gates, torn from their hinges, lie in twisted, broken pieces, the massive slabs of black rock shattered as if by a god’s wrath. The walls, once unyielding, now bear jagged wounds, their once-impenetrable defense crumbling under the force of an enemy that dared to strike my domain.

Thryx lands first, his wings flaring as his feet strike the rubble-strewn ground. His body tenses, his nostrils flaring as he takes in the devastation. Eryss stiffens beside me, her breath shallow, fingers twitching toward her nonexistent weapons. The absence of her magic is a weight pressing between us. A vulnerability. One I have no time to fix.

My own feet hit the ground, pain radiating through my injured wings, but I barely register it. I move forward, stepping over debris, my claws curling into my palms as fury rises, hot and undeniable.

“ Who did this? ” The growl rumbles deep, vibrating through my ribs. I ask even if I have an idea who. The moment they attacked me, I knew they set their sights here.

Thryx strides ahead, his jaw clenched. “Rogues. Traitors. They came in the night, used dark magics, tore through our defenses like they had help from the inside.” His gaze flicks to Eryss for the briefest of moments before snapping back to me.

Heat surges in my chest, molten rage licking up my spine. “ How many dead? ”

“Too many.”

The words slam into me harder than any blade.

A guttural snarl escapes my throat as I stalk toward what remains of the courtyard. Bodies litter the ground, my warriors, my kin, felled in brutal fashion. Some were torn apart, others burnt beyond recognition. The taste of their loss is bitter on my tongue, the weight of it settling in my chest like a brand.

Eryss hesitates beside me. Her face is unreadable, but her shoulders are rigid, her breath shaky.

I turn to Thryx. “Where are the survivors?”

“In the inner chambers,” he says, eyes shadowed. “Some tried to fight back, but the attack was too fast. Too precise.” He hesitates. “They weren’t just looking to destroy. They were looking for you .”

My claws flex. “They failed.”

Thryx exhales sharply. “Barely. If we hadn’t gotten the younger inside in time, if the barriers hadn’t held long enough…” His voice trails off, but I hear the words he doesn’t say.

This could have been worse.

It doesn’t matter. The fact that it happened at all is enough.

I pivot, my gaze cutting to Eryss. She stands at the edge of the destruction, her arms wrapped around herself, her expression carefully blank. But her eyes—those damn eyes—are filled with too many warring emotions.

“You don’t seem surprised,” I murmur.

She meets my gaze, chin tilting up, fire snapping in her irises. “I am. I just don’t waste time reacting to what’s already happened.”

A low, humorless chuckle leaves me. “You mean you expected this.”

She stays silent.

“Your sisters,” I say, stepping closer, voice dropping. “You think they weren’t involved?”

Her eyes narrow. “Stop.”

I don’t. I grip her chin, tilting her face up. “One of them let you fall . And then we come back to this? You don’t see the pattern, purna?”

Her lips part, but no sound comes out.

Something cracks in her mask, just for a breath of a second, before she jerks her head free. “I trust them.”

I lean in, my breath hot against her ear. “Then you’re a fool.”

Her entire body tenses, and the air crackles. It’s dangerous. This need to fight her, to shake her, to force her to see.

Worse, the need to kiss her again just to shut her up.

But before either of us can push further, a gargoyle limps toward us, blood dripping from his mouth.

“ My lord, ” he rasps, sinking to one knee. “The traitor…he escaped.”

Ice knifes through my veins.

I whip toward him. “Who?”

The gargoyle coughs, spitting blood onto the stones. “ Drenir. ”

The name slams into me, a wound that hasn’t healed ripping wide open.

Drenir. My second-in-command. My most trusted warrior .

The one who betrayed me.

I exhale slowly, forcing my fury into something lethal, something I can use . “Where did he go?”

The soldier shakes his head. “Vanished. His magic…darkened. He had help .”

I glance at Eryss.

She stiffens, lips parting in disbelief. “ Don’t. ”

My jaw flexes. “You don’t get to tell me what to believe. Not when your kind helped make this happen.”

“Don’t lump my kind with whatever enemies you have.”

I advance on her, slow and deliberate. “Enemies? Tell me, purna, when do you start seeing things for what they are? When you’re buried under the rubble with my kin? When the magic that’s shackled inside you finally cracks open and turns against me ?”

Her nostrils flare. “You’re paranoid .”

“And you’re blind .”

Her fists clench, and she steps closer, her fire meeting mine, our breaths mingling.

“You think I can still kill you after you save me again and again?” she asks, voice rough, raw. She goes rigid and pale, as if the thought of it goes against every fiber of her being.

I don’t answer. I can’t . Because the truth is, I don’t believe it.

But I need to.

If I don’t, then I have to admit something far worse.

That if she did betray me, I would let her.

I would let her go, and I would still burn for her.

Thryx clears his throat. “We need to move inside. This isn’t over.”

I grit my teeth and pull back from Eryss. “No. It’s just the beginning.”

Now I have a traitor to hunt.

A purna I’m still not sure if I should protect …or destroy .