Page 166 of Savage Crown

At night, when the city is silent and Rylan sleeps beside me, I stare at my hands, flexing my fingers, feeling the current of something otherworldly thrumming through them.

I have tried to ignore it.

I have tried not to want it.

But power is intoxicating.

And it is mine.

I could break a man with nothing but a thought.

I could level a building if I willed it.

I do not know the full extent of what I have become.

But I know this?—

I will wield it for him.

For Rylan.

For his clan.

For our empire.

For the man who gave me everything when the world only sought to take.

I move through the halls of our fortress, silent as a shadow, the scent of burning torches and aged stone thick in the air.

I pass soldiers—our soldiers.

Men who once feared Rylan’s name now bow to it.

Women who once cursed him now whisper it in awe.

I see the way they look at him, at us.

At me.

It is not the look they give a noble’s woman.

It is the look of something more.

Something other.

Something they cannot define.

That is exactly how I want it.

Rylan waitsin the war room.

His broad frame is draped in black and silver, his hair loose over his shoulders, his presence absolute.

He no longer hides in shadows. He is the shadow.

Maps are spread across the polished obsidian table, detailing trade routes, military movements, the shifting balance of power in the city.

He looks up as I enter, his emerald gaze sharp, assessing. Then it softens. Just for me.

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