Page 77 of The Naga Lord's Pretty Little Mouse

The corridors feel smaller as I leave the chamber, the walls pressing in as though I have walked into a cage I did not see closing around me.

My steps echo in the silence, but my thoughts are louder.

The noble lords have forced my hand, backed me into a corner where my only escape is through the destruction of everything I have tried to avoid.

Another batch of humans will arrive within days.

Another endless line of hopeful offerings, each one believing they might be chosen by fate itself.

I have done this ritual too many times to count. The process is cold, detached, a duty I have fulfilled with indifference.

But it is different now.

Because Seren is still here.

When she hears of this, she will not be indifferent.

She will see it for what it is.

A betrayal.

A reminder of exactly what she is to me in their eyes, nothing more than a temporary possession.

That thought alone is enough to send frustration clawing up my spine. I rake a hand through my hair, tail flicking sharply behind me as I push into my private wing of the stronghold.

She is nearby, moving within my walls, breathing within my reach, and yet I have never felt further from her than I do now.

I stop outside my chambers, palm pressed against the cold stone of the door. I do not enter.

Instead, I turn and leave.

I cannot face her.

34

SEREN

The stronghold whispers, and this time, I am not deaf to it.

Their voices slither through the corridors, through the training grounds, wrapping around me like the tightening coils of a snake waiting for the perfect moment to crush.

They converse to each other.

But they know I can hear them.

And they want me to.

Their amusement is in the way they don’t bother lowering their voices, how their words are spoken loud enough to reach me but not directed at me, as if I am not even worth acknowledging.

"The new batch arrives in two days."

A voice, rough with satisfaction, carries across the training yard.

Another chuckles. "He'll have to make his choice this time. He cannot afford to ignore his duty forever."

Steel clangs against steel as warriors spar, movements fluid, effortless, as though my entire existence isn’t being dissected in the open.

I keep my focus on my own training, gripping the wooden blade in my hands, but my arms tremble slightly, betraying me.

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