Page 27 of The Panther's Price

Lucien hesitated. Then, voice lower still.“It already is.”

TWELVE

EVRYN

The wind shifted just before Thalia arrived.

It carried something unnatural with it—too sharp, too still. The hairs on the back of Evryn’s neck lifted, and the air around her thickened.

Lucien noticed it too.

He stepped forward, jaw tightening, hand twitching instinctively toward his hip even though he wasn't carrying a blade openly. He didn’t speak, didn’t warn—but Evryn had started learning the language of his silence.

She rose from the bench, brushing dust from her jeans. Her gaze cut toward the broken window just as the shadows bent andopened.

And there she was.

Lady Thalia Shadeborn.

She stepped through the breach with the ease of someone who had walked into many places she didn’t belong and made them hers anyway.

Silver hair fell like liquid silk over her shoulder, her deep-gray coat lined with layered leather and metallic accents that shimmered faintly with spell-borne enchantment. She movedlike she was weightless and rooted at once—graceful, dangerous, elegant as frost forming over stone.

Her gaze landed first on Evryn.

Not Lucien.

Evryn stood straighter, biting down on the strange spike of nerves in her gut.

“Found you,” Thalia said, voice warm but edged. “Took me long enough.”

Lucien didn’t speak.

Evryn did.

“You said you’d be back.”

Thalia smiled slightly. “I didn’t lie.”

Lucien stepped in between them before she could get any closer.

“You weren’t invited,” he said flatly.

“Neither were you,” she answered, brushing past him like he was just another shadow. “But I’m not here to fight. I’m here to talk.”

Evryn folded her arms. “Talk about what?”

Thalia didn’t hesitate. “You.”

Evryn blinked.

Thalia gestured toward the cracked sigil beneath their feet. “This place belonged to the beginning of the rebellion. We’ve fallen quiet in recent years—outnumbered, outmaneuvered. But now?” She stepped closer, gaze piercing. “You’ve returned. With the First Mark. With the fire in your blood.”

Evryn shifted uncomfortably. “I didn’t return. I’m only here looking for Eamon.”

“Ah, but your search has brought your return. The Veil, the Dominion has felt it. You are the heir of a line long thought extinct,” Thalia said softly. “You carry a legacy that terrifies the throne. The people remember stories of a queen born under both moon and shadow. Theyneedsomeone like you.”

Evryn glanced at Lucien, then back to Thalia.

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