Page 29 of Crowned In Venom

"Your mind is elsewhere," she says.

A statement. Not a question.

I school my features into apathetic indifference. "My mind is always where it should be."

She hums, as if amused. "I would hope so. I raised you better than to let... distractions cloud your judgment."

I know what this is.

A test.

A warning.

She has heard whispers of Anya.

The thought twists something dark inside me.

"You think I am distracted?" I ask carefully.

She leans forward, the goblet cradled between her fingers, her eyes gleaming like cut amethysts.

"I know you, my son," she murmurs. "I have shaped you. Molded you into something more than what lesser men could ever hope to be."

Her voice wraps around me like silk and chain.

"There is nothing more dangerous than weakness. And nothing breeds weakness faster than attachment."

She sets the goblet down, the sound echoing like a weapon unsheathed.

"Tell me, Varkos... is there something you wish to confess?"

A trap. Laid with careful precision.

I do not step into it.

"I do not waste my time with distractions," I say smoothly.

She smiles, slow and knowing.

And I know she does not believe me.

She stands, moving toward me in a slow, unhurried glide.

The silks of her robes whisper against the stone as she circles me, her hand ghosting over my shoulder, then my throat.

A touch too familiar.

Too lingering.

"Good," she whispers. "Because I have made great sacrifices to keep you free of weakness, my son."

Her fingers trail along my jaw, light, possessive.

"I have burned empires for you."

Her lips brush my cheek—a mockery of tenderness, a kiss that feels more like a claim.

"I have spilled rivers of blood to keep you pure."

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