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Daimon

He had been bred for blood, reborn beneath sharp edges, and told to never show mercy. And he often never did. He was comfortable hiding behind the mask of commander while his heart shattered.

Seeing Evelina’s face after he killed the soldier—the way her eyes showed the fear she wouldn’t admit—was something he would never forget.

His father had told him it was his fate to one day sit at Vidaris’s right side as her sword. The gods didn’t know the future, not fully. But the truth of his heritage remained the same. And he refused to soil Evelina’s name with his dark and tainted bloodline.

He stalked along the water’s edge, sensing Zephyr in the trees watching him. It had been at least an hour since his conversation with Evelina, and yet his pulse hadn’t calmed.

“Well, come on out and stop hovering,” he muttered.

Slowly, he could hear the weight of trees bending and branches snapping as his wyvern trotted out of the forest. Zephyr whimpered, nudging him with her nose. A shot of her sadness spiked in his chest as she nuzzled his side .

“You overheard us?” He sighed, running his hand along the leathery scales of her neck. “She hates me, Z.”

Daimon found himself wishing for the thousandth time that Zephyr could talk back. But he could still feel her through the Rider bond, and he hated that she was feeling so sad.

“It’s better this way,” he assured her.

Zephyr abruptly nudged him, pushing him forward and cutting him off.

“I can’t tell her, you know that.”

Irritation bolted down their bond. Daimon shook his head as her golden eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“I’m not scared of her not taking it well. I just don’t want her to get hurt.”

Zephyr tilted her head to the side, and he knew the beast well enough to know this was her I don’t believe you face.

Daimon waved his hands in the air. “You know just as well as I do why I can’t risk her being tied to someone like me. Our fates were pulled in different directions.” He frowned, patting Zephyr’s head absentmindedly. “To put it lightly.”

Zephyr whined and laid her head on the ground behind him. Daimon sat down beside her, leaning his back against her neck.

It was a good thing Evelina hated him now. Especially when she was everything he had ever dreamed of. She was stunning in her element when healing, and had grown into a woman he couldn’t take his eyes off of. It was already taking every ounce of his restraint to keep his distance.

But now that she saw him for the monster he was… He was as relieved as he was devastated. If he was too weak to stay away, at least she could be strong enough for the both of them.