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The next morning came with the sound of keys and cold commands. Three guards escorted us out of the dungeon. Giesel stayed behind, her eyes following that single shaft of light across the floor.

I wanted to ask Giesel more, but I wouldn’t risk getting her in deeper. She’d already taken a beating just to hear the wind for me.

The guards led us into the main hall, but something seemed off when I heard the pained shrieks. “What’s happening?” I whispered to Ellison as the initiates formed a line, stripping off their shirts.

“Branding Day,” he muttered. “We’re officially Malvoria’s property now. Makes it easier to access lands when you don’t have enough rank to wear a badge.”

“Branding?” My breath caught. I’d seen Myla’s. I should’ve known this was coming.

One by one, initiates stepped forward. When it was Ellison’s turn, Rok dipped the metal rod into a pot of embers and pressed the glowing ‘M’ into the back of his neck.

Ellison buckled to his knees, teeth bared. “Shit. I thought I’d be immune to heat.”

Then it was my turn. “Strip,” Rok barked. “Or I’ll slice your shirt off myself. ”

My back slammed into an iron column. Smoke curled from the branding rod in his hand. It was far too close for my comfort. But there was no way in hell I was taking off my shirt and exposing my Serpent mark. Not here. Not now.

“Can’t you brand my arm instead?” I asked, voice tight.

“No. This is tradition.” His mismatched eyes gleamed. “Don’t make me ask again.”

Ellison winced but forced a shrug. “It’s not that bad,” he lied. “Feels like your skin’s peeling off, but if you smile, your brain gets confused and thinks it’s a good time.”

I didn’t care about the pain. I cared about Rok seeing my Serpent mark and exposing me and Archer’s relationship. He’d seen us together before my first night in the dungeons.

“Rok, I can’t,” I said, panic rising.

He grabbed my elbow and yanked me toward the dungeons. “You want a little privacy, sure. Let’s go somewhere private.”

I stumbled and my elbow cracked against the blood-stained stone. “You’re Malvoria’s now,” he growled. “You’ll strip, or I’ll do it for you.”

“I can’t,” I gasped. “I don’t want to show my body.”

He narrowed his eyes. “As cruel as I am, I don’t touch what’s not mine. But you’ve got two uniforms. If you want to walk around naked, fine by me.”

I clutched my elbow. “You don’t understand—I can’t. ”

If he saw the mark, he’d know. They all would. That I was an heir. And Rok, he wasn’t just muscle and brutality, he’d put it together. Archer had made me his heir.

Rok unsheathed his dagger with a hiss of steel. I scrambled back, but he grabbed me by the throat and dragged me upright.

“Take off your shirt,” he snarled, breath like smoke, “or I brand your face.”

“Then brand my face,” I hissed.

He scoffed, tossing the rod at my feet. “Light it, then. ”

I raised my hand, but nothing came.

“Why is your flame so damn weak?” he sneered. “You have a protector quell.”

“I don’t know why.”

He caught my hand, peeled it open and studied the scarring. “You were bitten. Something pierced your relic.” He paused. “Snake fangs?”

I yanked away. “If you’re going to brand me, do it somewhere my Serpent mark isn’t.”

His expression turned sharp. “Bullshit. We’d know.”

I hesitated. Then lifted the hem of my leathers just enough to reveal the mark carved on my spine. “I’m the heir of Night,” I said quietly. “Now tell me, what will it take to keep you quiet?”

Rok’s mouth curled into something between a grin and a snarl. “Ohh this is messy,” he mused. “But I’m always up for a deal. But first, light it.”

“I told you. My flame is weak.”

He didn’t blink. Just raised a hand, and with a single gesture, I felt the familiar wrench as my power was siphoned from me. A burst of black flame spiraled from my chest and coiled into his palm.

“Rok—please, stop!”

“I’m siphoning it for you,” he said. “Since you’re too weak.” His face twisted in the glow. “I’ll let you pick where,” he said.

I lifted my shirt again, voice barely steady. “Fine. Brand my ribs. But no one can know I am an heir.”

Rok’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. “Oh, this will be our little secret, Severyn.”

He didn’t move closer. Instead, he raised a hand from where he stood, fingers curling in the air like he was sketching something invisible. And then I felt the flame sear into my skin. The first stroke burned so deep I cried out, clutching the wall for balance .

“They say the worst torture,” Rok murmured. “is being killed by your own magic.”

The flame dragged again, tracing another line into my ribs.

“Rok—why?” I gasped, breath catching in my throat.

His gaze flicked to mine, dark with something close to fascination. “Because pain makes people obedient. And you, Severyn, were never meant to obey.”

He wasn’t just branding me, he was using my own flame to do it, carving the mark into my skin with his finger.

“Why are you so cruel?”

“Because a dead dragon has risen,” he said softly. “And your brother told me to break you.”

“No,” I breathed, vision blurring. “He wouldn’t want me to be tortured.”

“Oh, yes he would. And we both know it.” He lowered his hand, and the final line of the brand seared into my skin.

“The ‘M’ can stand for many things,” Rok muttered. “Malvoria. Monster. Mistake.” He smiled, slow and razor-sharp. “But me? Maybe it stands for murderer .”

“Murderer?” I choked, pain tearing through me. When he leaned back, I collapsed to my side, clutching the jagged brand seared into my skin.

“Your quell killed the Warden’s daughter,” he said. “I felt it the moment I siphoned your power. He doesn’t know it was you.”

“I didn’t mean to,” I rasped. “I didn’t—”

Rok flexed his fingers. “Now,” he said smoothly, “about that barter. I do have something in mind.”

“What?” I asked.

“Your shadow quell,” he said. “I want to borrow it.”

I tugged my shirt down, shaking. “No. I can’t give you that. I won’t. ”

He leaned in, close enough that I could taste the smoke on his breath.

“Then I’ll tell the entire Continent that Archer Lynch is screwing his heir.

” His grin stretched wider. “Scandal of the century, don’t you think?

And if the Warden finds out you’re the one who killed his daughter…

” He let the threat hang. “I don’t think you want to know what he’ll do to you. ”

And in that moment, I didn’t fully grasp what I had agreed to, or the cost of lending my shadow to a monstrous guard who knew far too much.

But I knew one thing: He had just ruined me.