Page 127 of Stormvein

“Not exactly.” Her expression shifts, a subtle change that sets off alarm bells in my head.

Shewantedto be caught. This was her plan all along.

“Sacha—”

Lisandra moves with stunning speed, twisting in his grip with a technique designed to break holds. Her hand comes up, the gleam of metal flashing in the dying light.

Sacha reacts, shadows surging to deflect the strike, but Lisandra isn’t aiming for him. She pivots, changing direction mid-motion, and lunges toward me.

Before I can move, her arm locks around my throat, blade pressed against my skin.

“Call back your shadows,” she demands. “Or I’ll open her throat.”

Power surges through me in response to the immediate danger, illuminating the ravine walls with unnatural light.

Sacha freezes, shadows hovering around him like agitated smoke. His expression remains calm, but I can see the calculation in his eyes as he weighs options, plans moves. I wonder if he’s measuring my life against everything else at stake.

“You won’t kill her,” he says finally. “She’s the only leverage you have.”

“I don’tneedto kill her. I just have to hurt her enough to slow you down.”

The blade presses harder against my skin, not breaking it yet, but the threat is clear. My breath comes in shallow gasps.

“What do you want?” Sacha’s voice gives no hint at all to what he might be thinking.

“Safe passage away from here. Away from Sereven. Away from you. Away from this entire cursed war.” Her arm tightens around my throat, cutting off my airflow. “I’m done being everyone’s sacrificial piece.”

Sacha’s eyes meet mine, and for a second there’s something there that I never expected to see—genuine concern. Not for himself, but for me. Real fear for my safety. Uncertainty instead of his usual confidence.

For a man who has spent decades confined to a tower, who has faced torture without breaking, this moment of fear, forme,sends a strange warmth through me, even with a blade at my throat.

“Let her go, and you have my word that you can walk away.”

Lisandra laughs, the sound bitter. “Yourword? The word of the man who planned to use me as bait for Sereven? Who knows exactly what fate awaits me there?”

“You knew what he would do to me, Lisandra.” His voice turns dangerously soft, shadows condensing into darker forms around him. “And you still handed me to him. But even after that, I never intended for you to die at Blackstone Ridge.”

“No, just afterward. When I’ve served my purpose.” The blade presses harder, and I feel a warm trickle of blood as it breaks skin. “I’ve served the Veinbloods from the start of the war, when the Authority uprising began. I’ve servedyou. I gave up everything for the Veinwardens. Decades devoted to a cause that’s killed everyone I’ve ever loved. And my reward? To be sacrificed for your feud with Sereven.”

“Feud.” He spits the word out like poison. “Is that what you’re calling the utter annihilation of the Veinbloods?”

I stay still, focusing on my breathing, on the power fighting to break free. My familiar stirs inside my mind, responding to my danger. It wants to be released, but not yet. Timing is everything.

“It wouldn’t have happened if?—”

“Were you responsible for my initial imprisonment, Lisandra?”

“No! Of course not.”

“You’re lying. You betrayed us all. To the Authority, to Sereven.”

“To protectStonehaven!A single life against hundreds. The same decision you’ve had to make countless times. The difference is I chosethemoveryou.”

Sacha’s posture changes. It’s almost imperceptible, but I feel it like a physical shift in the air between us. His shadows draw closer to his body, become more concentrated, more lethal.

“What do you want me to do?”

“Back away. Tell the fighters to stay where they are. I’m taking her with me until I’m clear of this area.”