Page 106 of Crowned In Venom

The wrongness.

The unnaturalness of her power.

"What have you been feeding yourself?" I rasp, my own voice foreign to me.

She tilts her head, smiling in that way that always made my stomach turn.

"I eat what I must, my darling," she whispers.

Her gaze flickers to the dark elf who wounded me.

The smile vanishes.

"Ah. You."

For the first time since we crossed blades, I see a flicker of uncertainty in the prisoner’s stance.

The Matriarch lifts her hand.

A snap of power.

The air distorts.

His body lifts off the ground, thrashing, twisting in unnatural angles as the magic wraps around him like an unseen fist.

A sharp, broken sound escapes his throat.

A warning?

Or a final curse?

"Tell him," he chokes.

The Matriarch tightens her grip.

His spine bows, his limbs jerking as veins blacken beneath his skin.

"Tell him," he snarls. "Tell him who he really is."

A cold wave of dread sweeps over me.

She only smiles.

Then—she breaks him.

Bone snaps.

His body crumples.

Discarded.

Like nothing.

Like something that never mattered at all.

She exhales, flicking her fingers as if wiping away dust.

"How boring," she sighs, then turns to me.

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