Page 33 of Too Dangerous To Die

I exhale through my nose, dragging a clawed hand over my jaw. This is a mistake. Letting her feel it before she’s ready. Letting them feel her before I can tear her away.

But I have no choice.

“They were once men,” I finally say. “Warriors, soldiers, kings. Before they became something else.”

She shudders. “What happened to them?”

I hesitate.

Not because I don’t know the answer.

But because the truth will change everything.

“The Wraithborn were cursed,” I murmur. “They weren’t always this way. They were given a choice—serve eternity or cease to exist. They chose to stay.”

Nora sways slightly, her breathing uneven. “By who?”

I don’t speak.

I don’t have to.

She knows.

Her eyes widen as she takes a slow step back. Away from me.

“You knew,” she breathes.

“Nora—”

“You knew what they were. You knew why they were following me.”

I grip her wrist before she can turn away. “I knew they’d come for you.”

She trembles. But it’s not fear—not of me, anyway. It’s something worse.

Something closer to realization.

I lower my voice. “If they want you, it means they think you belong to them.”

Her breath catches.

“No,” she whispers, shaking her head. “No, that’s not?—”

She tries to pull away, but I tighten my grip. “It’s why we need to leave. Now.”

She stares at me, half-defiant, half-lost. “I don’t belong to anyone.”

She says it with conviction, but the bond entwines sharply—and I feel the doubt creeping in.

The whispers inside her head are growing louder.

And if she keeps listening…

She will hear them.

15

NORA

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