Page 101 of Crowned In Venom

But I also know that when he fell, others followed.

He is a symbol.

A symbol I can use.

I exhale, sliding the key into the lock.

"If you leave this place, you do not leave quietly," I say softly.

His eyes flash.

"I never do."

The lock clicks.

The first crack in Varkos’s empire is struck.

I do not wait to watch him leave.

I do not stay to see the way he will tear through the palace like a storm unchained.

Because I cannot afford to.

I have already done too much.

When the chaos begins, I will be exactly where I am supposed to be.

As if I had nothing to do with it.

As if I had not just set into motion the beginning of the end.

But before I slip back into the shadows, I do one last thing.

I leave a mark.

A message.

Not for the Matriarch.

Not for the guards.

For Varkos.

A single word, scratched into the stone beside the open cell.

Checkmate.

Then, I disappear.

And the war begins.

31

VARKOS

The first scream is swallowed by the night.

The second is not.

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