Page 96 of Savage Crown

The air between us snaps like a wire pulled too tight and I finally step back.

She exhales slowly, masking whatever the hell she’s feeling behind a carefully neutral expression.

I let out a sharp breath, shaking my head.

I hate this.

I hate her.

I hate the way she’s seeping into my blood like a slow, creeping poison.

I turn toward the door, pressing my palm against the wood.

“We leave at dawn,” I say.

She nods. “Where will we go next?”

“Somewhere they won’t find us.”

She watches me, unreadable. “Are you sure you want to keep running?”

I grip the door so hard my knuckles ache.

No.

I want to end this.

I want to burn every last piece of this war until there’s nothing left but us.

But I don’t say that.

Instead, I give her the only truth I can afford.

“I’m sure of one thing.”

She tilts her head. “And what’s that?”

I finally look at her.

And I let her see.

The hunger. The war. The thing I don’t understand.

The thing I never wanted.

“That I’m not done with you yet.”

35

SERAPHINA

Only the wind moves beyond the crumbling walls, whispering through broken stone, slipping through cracks and settling in the silence between us. The fire has burned low in the hearth, its glow barely reaching the edges of the small room, leaving shadows stretching long and deep.

Rylan stands a few feet away, his back half-turned, the muscles in his shoulders coiled tight. He hasn’t spoken since we stepped inside, hasn’t looked at me, but I can feel it—the energy rippling off him, dark and charged and dangerous.

This is different from the battles we fight with knives and steel.

This is something else.

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