Page 52 of Savage Crown

She did this.

Somehow, she’s poisoned him against me, planted a seed of doubt and watched it take root. This is what she planned all along.

And now, I’m the one standing in the flames.

I lift my chin, refusing to shrink beneath his gaze. “You think I work for Nhilian?”

He doesn’t blink. “I think you’re too good at lying.”

A slow, terrible smirk curves his lips, but it doesn’t reach his eyes.

It’s not amusement.

It’s a warning.

I exhale forcefully, forcing down the frustration clawing up my throat. “You think I nearly got myself killed, risked my life for your godsdamn mission, only to be a traitor?”

“I think,” he murmurs, stepping even closer, “that I don’t like coincidences.”

My jaw tightens.

He’s close now.

Too close that I can see the tension in his shoulders, the way his fingers twitch—like he’s holding himself back from something violent.

Or something worse.

He reaches out, gripping my chin, raising it, so that I can’t look away.

“Tell me the truth,” he breathes. “Are you working against me?”

I hold his gaze, ignoring the way my heart pounds beneath my ribs.

Ignoring the way his touch burns.

I smile.

Slow. Defiant.

I won’t beg.

Not for him. Not for anyone.

“If I were a traitor,” I whisper, “you’d already be dead.”

The words hang between us, sharp and deliberate.

Rylan’s grip tightens.

For a single, breathless second, I think he might break me.

Then—he laughs.

It’s soft. Dark. Unforgiving.

He releases me suddenly, shoving me back a step.

I stumble but catch myself against the tip of the desk, breathless, shaking—but still standing.

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