Page 31 of The Panther's Price

Another reason to send someone worse than him. And since Lucien was always the first and last resort, he could only imagine which mercenary she would choose next.

Behind him, Evryn’s voice cut through the air. “That thing. The crow. What was it?”

Lucien didn’t turn around. “Messenger.”

“That much I got,” she said. “From who?”

He finally looked over his shoulder. “Cassian.”

Evryn’s brow furrowed. “Your brother?”

Lucien nodded once. Neutral. Controlled.

“What did it say?”

He didn’t blink.

“Just that the Queen is moving resources near the border. Might get messy soon.”

Evryn stared at him for a moment too long, her jaw slightly tight.

“You sure that’s all it said?”

Lucien kept his voice even. “If it were worse, we wouldn’t be walking.”

She didn’t reply.

Didn’t press.

But something in her expression cooled again. Not out of fear. Not quite.

Like she couldfeelthe shape of the truth beneath the surface and didn’t know whether to dig or let it lie.

Lucien turned back to the path, keeping his pace.

If she found out the Queen already knew...

She’d be gone by nightfall. Possibly back into Thalia’s lies.

And worse, she might think he was still playing his part.

That he was stillleading her to her death.

So he stayed quiet.

His silence was his second betrayal.

They reached the edge of the Shatterroads near dusk.

The land opened into a wide, broken valley where trees grew like bone-pikes and old ruins jutted from the ground like teethfrom a dying god’s mouth. Lucien knew the place. Had used it before.

There were still pockets of shifter enclaves hidden in these ridges—people who hadn’t bent the knee to any House. They were hostile. Suspicious. But they didn’t answer to Selyne or Thalia.

And right now, that made them thesafestpeople he could find.

Evryn broke the silence first.

Her voice was calm, but clipped. “Where are you taking me?”

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