Page 92 of Crowned In Venom

Destruction.

And I know now, without a doubt—Varkos’s mother ordered Mira’s death.

The Matriarch is watching.

She is testing me.

She wants to see what I will do.

If I will break.

If I will run.

But she underestimates me.

I do not break.

I sharpen.

And if she is watching, then I will give her a show.

I leave my chambers, my steps controlled, measured.

The halls of the palace seem darker tonight, heavier.

Guards nod as I pass, their gazes lingering in a way that was not there before. They are paying attention now. They have been told to.

And I know why.

I am marked.

Not as property.

Not as a pet.

But as a threat.

I reach the entrance to the lower halls, where Varkos’s quarters lie. Two guards stand in front of the doors, their expressions blank but their presence clear.

They do not want me here.

I let my lips curl into something soft, something deceptive. “Move.”

One guard hesitates. “Lord Varkos is not to be disturbed?—”

“I don’t care.”

The other guard tenses. “We have orders.”

I tilt my head. “From whom?”

A flicker of something—hesitation.

The Matriarch.

Not Varkos.

Interesting.

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