Page 163 of Claimed In Darkness

"Leaving so soon, little fox?"

My blood runs cold. I don’t need to turn to see who the latest arrival is.

I know exactly who it is.

Lord Zeran Zacria. Zephiran father.

The man who has been pulling the strings from the beginning.

The man who created the curse.

The man who always knew this would happen.

This was his plan all along, and now, he’s come to collect.

Slowly, I turn to face him.

His eyes glint like sharpened steel in the dark.

His mouth is curved into something that almost looks like amusement as if this is all just a game to him.

As if he hasn’t already ruined everything.

"I should have known you’d come crawling back to him,"he muses.

My fingers twitch toward my dagger.

"I didn’t crawl anywhere,” I reply, trying to push the darkness inside me to gain some semblance of control.

His chuckle is soft, patronizing.

"No? You ran to him like a good little pet. You kissed him. You let him touch you. And now, you think you can run away again?"

My stomach tightens.

He has been watching.

I have played into his hands without even realizing it.

"You don’t care about me,"I say.

He tilts his head.

"No. But I care about my son. And you, little human, are his greatest weakness."

My breath catches.

He’s here to destroy what’s left of me. Not for me.

For Zephiran.

To make him watch.

To break him.

This man lives to make his son suffer, and I can’t have him do that.

He moves fast.

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