Page 63 of Monster's Pretty Bride

When this is over, when we make it back, I’m going to rip the truth from her.

One way or another. I’m going to make her see.

29

NARANUS

The stronghold is bleeding.

Smoke curls through the sky, thick and cloying, carrying the scent of scorched stone and flesh. The gates, torn from their hinges, lie in twisted, broken pieces, the massive slabs of black rock shattered as if by a god’s wrath. The walls, once unyielding, now bear jagged wounds, their once-impenetrable defense crumbling under the force of an enemy that dared to strike my domain.

Thryx lands first, his wings flaring as his feet strike the rubble-strewn ground. His body tenses, his nostrils flaring as he takes in the devastation. Eryss stiffens beside me, her breath shallow, fingers twitching toward her nonexistent weapons. The absence of her magic is a weight pressing between us. A vulnerability. One I have no time to fix.

My own feet hit the ground, pain radiating through my injured wings, but I barely register it. I move forward, stepping over debris, my claws curling into my palms as fury rises, hot and undeniable.

“Who did this?” The growl rumbles deep, vibrating through my ribs. I ask even if I have an idea who. The moment they attacked me, I knew they set their sights here.

Thryx strides ahead, his jaw clenched. “Rogues. Traitors. They came in the night, used dark magics, tore through our defenses like they hadhelpfrom the inside.” His gaze flicks to Eryss for the briefest of moments before snapping back to me.

Heat surges in my chest, molten rage licking up my spine. “How many dead?”

“Too many.”

The words slam into me harder than any blade.

A guttural snarl escapes my throat as I stalk toward what remains of the courtyard. Bodies litter the ground, my warriors, my kin, felled in brutal fashion. Some were torn apart, others burnt beyond recognition. The taste of their loss is bitter on my tongue, the weight of it settling in my chest like a brand.

Eryss hesitates beside me. Her face is unreadable, but her shoulders are rigid, her breath shaky.

I turn to Thryx. “Where are the survivors?”

“In the inner chambers,” he says, eyes shadowed. “Some tried to fight back, but the attack was too fast. Too precise.” He hesitates. “They weren’tjustlooking to destroy. They were looking foryou.”

My claws flex. “They failed.”

Thryx exhales sharply. “Barely. If we hadn’t gotten the younger inside in time, if the barriers hadn’t held long enough…” His voice trails off, but I hear the words he doesn’t say.

This could have been worse.

It doesn’t matter. The fact that it happened at all is enough.

I pivot, my gaze cutting to Eryss. She stands at the edge of the destruction, her arms wrapped around herself, her expression carefully blank. But her eyes—those damn eyes—are filled with too many warring emotions.

“You don’t seem surprised,” I murmur.

She meets my gaze, chin tilting up, fire snapping in her irises. “I am. I just don’twastetime reacting to what’s already happened.”

A low, humorless chuckle leaves me. “You mean you expected this.”

She stays silent.

“Your sisters,” I say, stepping closer, voice dropping. “You think they weren’t involved?”

Her eyes narrow. “Stop.”

I don’t. I grip her chin, tilting her face up. “One of them let youfall. And then we come back to this? You don’t see the pattern, purna?”

Her lips part, but no sound comes out.

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