Page 28 of Too Dangerous To Die

A presence lingers in the dark, just beyond my vision.Not beasts. Not elves.

Something else. It does not breathe.

Something that should not be here.

I rise to my feet slowly, my musclescoiled and ready, my senses stretching into the night. Thebond between me and Nora pulses, and I feel her magic stirring, reacting to whatever is out there.

She feels them too.

She just doesn’t knowwhat they are yet.

I step away from the fire, moving toward the outer ridge of the ruins.The wind changes.The air is thick withsulfur and death, the scent of the Wastes pressing against me like a warning.

Suddenly, a whisper.

A voice,low and hollow, curling at my mind.

"Rhaegar…"

Istill.

My claws dig into my palms, rage surging hot through my veins.

Because I know that voice. It does not belong to the living.

"You should not have brought her here."

A flicker of movement in the dark.A figure wrapped in rusted armor, its face hidden beneath the shadow of a broken helm.

Wraithborn.

Damn them all.

A growl builds low in my throat, but I do not move, do not let them see the anger curling through me like flame.

They are testing me. They know better than to strike first.

I step forward, letting my presence expand, letting the weight of my magic move in the air like a warning.

"You are bold to come so close to me," I say, voice low, dangerous.

The figure shifts, tilting its head. Beneath the helm,its eyes are empty.Hollow sockets, dark and endless, like the void itself has swallowed them whole.

"We have no quarrel with you."The voice scrapes against my skull, wrong and ancient.

I snarl. "Lies."

They do not move.

They do not breathe.

They onlywatch.

"She does not belong to you, Rhaegar."

My wingssnap open, fury flashing hot in my chest.

Mine.

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