Page 34 of Crowned In Venom

Varkos exhales, shaking his head slightly. "Do you think a caged beast, once released, will remain tame? That it will not turn on the master who once held the leash?"

There is no remorse in his voice.

No shame.

Only cold certainty.

I meet his gaze, letting the firelight dance in my eyes. "And if they fight for you out of something greater than fear?"

His lips curl. "Then you understand nothing of power."

I have found the first weak thread in his empire.

But pulling at it will take time.

Varkos does not care about the suffering of his fighters.

But what happens when they stop fearing him?

What happens when they stop fighting?

I must be careful.

One wrong move, and I will not live to try again.

But the pit fighters?

The ones who win, but never leave?

They have nothing to lose.

And that makes them dangerous.

Varkos sees them as caged beasts.

But even caged beasts learn to bite back.

12

VARKOS

Ifeel her gaze before I see it.

A slow, deliberate thing.

Not the wide-eyed stare of a slave awaiting orders. Not the hesitant, wary glance of someone measuring the depth of their chains.

No.

This is something else.

A hunter’s gaze.

A gaze that measures, calculates, waits.

And I should be wary.

Instead, I find myself craving it.

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