Page 143 of Claimed In Darkness

For the woman he still thinks is buried inside me somewhere?

The woman who no longer fucking exists.

I let out a laugh. Not out of amusement.

Not out of victory.

Its out of pity.

"What are you waiting for?"I whisper.

His fingers tighten around the hilt.

I feel the tremor in his grip.

He cannot do it. Weak.

He still thinks there is a way out of this. Thinks I will come back to him.

That is the biggest mistake he has ever made. He’s pathetic.

I will never be his again.

Love has no place in my life.

I belong to war and Zephiran is just another enemy standing in my way.

I move before he can. Too fast that he can’t keep up.

The relic inside me burns, bending my body into something faster, stronger, more lethal than anything I have ever been before.

I twist.

My blade finds his side. Not deep enough to kill.

But it was enough to drive home that there’s no way back.

Just enough to make him see me for what I am.

A gasp rips from his lips.

Shock.

Not pain.

Not fear.

I lean in close, lips brushing against the shell of his ear.

"It took you long enough,"I murmur.

He stumbles back, pressing a hand to his wound, blinking like he doesn’t quite believe it.

He doesn’t quite believe I did this.

Zephiran still thinks there is a version of this where we do not end up like this.

It is not.

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