Page 105 of Savage Crown

Just watches me.

Waiting.

Always waiting.

And I realize, with a sick twist of dread, that I will never be free of her.

I don’t want to be.

But I cannot let her see that.

If she does?—

She will own me. And I can’t afford to be owned.

Even for her.

38

SERAPHINA

“Where are we going?” I ask, though I already know I won’t get an answer I like.

Rylan has been quiet. Too quiet. His face is carved from stone, his steps sharp and calculated.

“To Vael.”

A name. A single word. He doesn’t look at me when he says it, doesn’t bother to explain.

I cross my arms, pushing for more. “Who is he?”

Rylan doesn’t answer.

Not even when we stop in front of a small, unassuming house buried in the slums.

The air is thick with the scent of aged wood and smoldering embers. The home itself is sturdy, hidden, fortified—not large, not lavish, but safe.

Most importantly, Rylan trusts him.

I don’t.

Not yet.

Rylan barely hasthe door shut before Vael is on him—grinning wide, grabbing his forearm in a firm clasp, pulling him into a rough embrace that Rylan does not return.

I see it immediately.

The tension in Rylan’s shoulders. The way his body doesn’t relax.

He’s not sure about Vael anymore.

That tells me everything I need to know.

Vael is a dark elf. Taller than Rylan, broad-shouldered, lean with the quiet strength of someone who’s spent his life barely surviving. His hair is ink-black, streaked with silver at his temples, his sharp violet eyes flickering over Rylan with something between relief and suspicion.

"You’re alive, then," Vael muses, stepping back. His voice is deep, edged with wry amusement.

Rylan doesn’t smile. “Disappointed?”

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