Page 162 of Red Ruin

I don’t know why that makes me feel so twisted inside.

Kevan’s glacier blue eyes match the chill of his frown. “This information best be urgent enough to warrant interrupting my rest with my Guide.”

More spikes pierce my heart.

There’s no recognition in his gaze.

I was wrong.

This isworsethan the worst.

“Kevan,” I choke, “it’s me.”

He squints into the orb.

He’s watched me as our noses grazed and he rocked inside my body. My face was the first thing he saw when I wrenched him back from death, undeath, and more rampages than either of us can remember.

“Ris,”he’d gasp as he gripped my jaw.

Five years together, and he can’t recognize me because my hair is down?

I suffocate from the pressure. My shoulders drop.

It feels like being crushed.

Why did I ever care about a man like this?

Why do I still fucking let him hurt me?

“It’s Iris,” I finally crack and remind him of my own name.

“Iris?” He draws back and cocks his head. “Why are you messaging from Azrid?”

Where do I fuckingstart?

I pin my free hand under my thigh, stopping the urge to rub the blades embedded in my ribs.Just keep to business. That’s all we ever were. “We found your Sire’s prison tomb. Its seals are collapsing. The lich king is raising a horde to break itself free. We need Sentinels to hold the line.”

With no urgency at all, Kevan scans the room behind me.

“Where are you?” he asks, as flat and cold as ever.

“I was reassigned.”

He didn’t notice.

Kevanreally didn’t fucking noticethat I left his estate.

“Impossible.”

“Do you want the location or not? The site is packed with undead and artifacts you can absorb. All you have to do is support our fight with the Eastern Legion. Maybe share some family lore about your ancestor’s capture.”

“I’m curious.” His eyes narrow, turning shrewd. “How did you come to be the broker of this deal?”

This is the Kevan I remember.

Always hungry for more power.

“Does it matter?”

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