Page 168 of Savage Crown

When we pull apart, his breathing is uneven.

His thumb drags over my lower lip, smearing the taste of him there.

I feel something dangerous and warm coil inside me.

He exhales, stepping back, reclaiming the space between us.

He straightens, returning to the table, his hands pressing against the map once more.

His mind is already on the next move.

I do the same.

We are not finished.

Not yet.

The clan is ours.

The territory is ours.

But I know one truth above all others?—

Power never rests.

Neither will we.

57

RYLAN

The grand hall hums with life.

Laughter, the clink of goblets, the sound of dark elven nobility whispering behind gilded masks.

They never expected this.

Never expected me to rise from the ashes.

Not after they buried my name, after they reduced me to nothing.

But now, they stand in my house.

Drinking my wine.

Bowing their heads as they acknowledge my power.

Tonight is mine.

And yet, somehow, none of it matters.

Even the wealth, the land, or the restoration of my family name.

She is the only thing I see.

Draped in black silk, the fabric a perfect contrast against her sun-kissed skin, her dark hair braided with silver threads.

She stands at my side, unaware of the storm brewing within me. Unaware that tonight will mark her as mine.

---