Page 127 of Savage Crown

The tunnels smell of damp earth and death.

The walls pulse with a suffocating stillness, broken only by the distant echoes of the fire still raging above.

Seraphina’s breath is too shallow against my chest, her warmth barely clinging to me. I need to get her help. I need to keep moving, but--

I react before thought, my dagger flashing in the dim torchlight, blade to throat, pressing into flesh.

They release a gasp, one that sounds an awful lot like my name.

Vael. The sight of him stirs rage so potent it nearly blinds me. The man I trusted. The man who betrayed me. The man I stabbed and left bleeding in the wreckage.

And yet, here he stands.

"How," I growl, pressing my blade deeper, enjoying the way he flinches.

Vael’s lips curl in a bitter smirk. "You should have aimed higher."

I snarl. I should gut him here, let his insides spill across the dirt.

But then his gaze drops to Seraphina and his smirk vanishes.

"She’s dying." His voice is hoarse, broken.

I don’t need him to tell me that.

I feel her slipping, her body weakening with every second I waste.

Vael swallows. "I know a place."

“I don’t fucking trust you.” I spit violently.

But Seraphina doesn’t have time for my vengeance.

My fingers tighten around the hilt of my dagger.

"Lead me into a trap," I murmur, voice edged with steel, "and I’ll carve you apart so slowly you’ll beg for death."

Vael nods once, and I scoop Seraphina back into my arms to follow. Not because I forgive him. Not because I trust him. But because Seraphina’s life is worth more than my hatred.

The chamber is hidden deep beneath the tunnels, carved into the ruins of a forgotten war.

It’s old. Reinforced. Safe.

Vael locks the door behind us, sealing us from the outside world. I lower Seraphina onto a cot, my hands coated in her blood, her skin paler than I can stand. Vael moves fast, retrieving supplies from a hidden compartment in the wall. He kneels beside her, hands steady, movements practiced.

I watch, my fingers itching on the hilt of my sword.

He shouldn’t be helping her.

He shouldn’t be touching her.

But I let him.

She needs this.

I need her.

Minutes stretch into eternity.

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