Page 91 of The Naga Lord's Pretty Little Mouse

But my tail coils slightly, irritation rippling through my muscles.

"You’re leaving?" I call after her.

She does not stop. Does not turn.

"I don’t see the point of staying," she says smoothly. "Excuse me, my lord."

Again, that title.

That distance.

Something inside me snaps.

Talyra laughs again.

I round on her, voice low. "What are you doing?"

She does not answer immediately. Instead, she lets the silence settle between us, studying me like I am a puzzle missing its last piece.

She smiles.

"I’m giving you a push."

My tail flicks in irritation. "A push for what?"

Her eyes glint with too much knowledge. "You are hopeless, you know that?"

Before I can demand more, she steps back, her expression infuriatingly smug.

Then she turns and walks away, her long robes brushing against the stone.

I do not understand what the fuck just happened or what Talyra means.

39

SEREN

Talyra played me.

The realization sits like hot coals in my gut, simmering beneath my ribs, burning slow and insidious. She knew. Knew exactly who I was when she approached me that night. Knew what she was doing when she spoke those carefully chosen words, making it seem as if our first meeting had been in the training pits.

Lies.

Xirath played along, as if nothing had happened, as if I had imagined it.

I grip the desk in my chambers, knuckles aching from how hard I press my fingers into the wood. My breath is controlled, measured, but fury courses through me like a storm waiting to break.

I should have seen it coming. I should have expected it.

But it still stings.

Not because I care.

I don’t. My heart just aches, that’s all.

A deep, unbearable weight presses against my ribs, suffocating in its quiet cruelty.

I shouldn’t have let myself feel anything for him.

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