Page 47 of Severed Heir

“Can we start over?”

Myla gave a breathy laugh. “We don’t need to. Just don’t shut me out again.”

Antonia slung an arm around her shoulder. “I’m freezing my tits off. Can we move this heart-to-heart somewhere less frozen?”

Fraser cleared his throat. “Toni’s right. We should get to the Blanche estate before nightfall. If anything’s hunting, we’re agrand buffet on legs. I don’t have tits, but cold has found places it doesn’t belong.”

The climb to the estate was quiet. The boulders that once served as childhood trail markers still lined the slope. My home waited at the peak, just as I’d left it so many months ago.

Naraic curled beneath the trees, camouflaged in the snow. Only his glowing violet eyes betrayed him.

Cully stepped forward, fumbling with the house key he always kept on him. The door creaked open, and warmth spilled into the cold.

Home.

The scent of old soup clung to the air—faint, laced with mildew and a hint of ash. I ran my hand along the banister, grounding myself in the quiet. It had never been this quiet.

“There are spare rooms upstairs,” I said. “Make yourselves comfortable.”

Fraser was already rooting through the cupboards for a kettle. “Hey, Severyn,” he called, wiggling his fingers like a child casting spells. “Mind lending a spark?”

I sighed, rolled my eyes, then summoned a flicker of flame. The stove crackled to life with a grudging spark. Antonia, ever the traditionalist, insisted on her old method, by rubbing sticks together and sacrificing a few battered issues of theSerpent Pressfor kindling.

Cully rested a hand on my shoulder. “Father will find a way to fix this,” he said.

“But how?” I whispered. “No sun. No food.”

“I don’t know. But he’d die for this country. He’ll find a way.”

Silence settled deep. Across the hall, Kian murmured a soft goodnight before retreating to bed. Tomorrow, I would speak to him. I had to. When I heard the first creak of a door upstairs, I knew he had chosen Klaus’s room.

Antonia hadn’t moved. She sat by the fireplace, shoulders tight. “I’m sorry,” she said at last, her voice quiet. “About your home.”

“Neither of us expected this,” I murmured. “And… thanks for saving me at the lake.”

Antonia moved to the kitchen and grabbed a mug from Fraser’s hand. “Don’t expect it to become a habit.”

“For someone who allegedly hates me,” I said, “you’ve saved me twice now.”

Steam flushed her cheeks. “You’re a walking disaster. But… I never hated you.”

I hesitated. Then let the truth burn its way free. “Toni, there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you.”

She arched a brow. “Finally realized how dramatic you are?”

I huffed a laugh, but it caught in my throat. “Alaric’s last words were for you. He said… if he had the chance, he’d choose you. That he loved you.”

For a heartbeat, her expression cracked, just enough to show the wound time hadn’t managed to close. Fraser noticed. He leaned back against the counter, saying nothing.

“I thought you killed him,” she whispered.

“I didn’t. He saved me. Took a dagger straight to the chest during Skyfall. By the time I understood what had happened, he’d already severed his bond with his dragon.”

From the kitchen, Fraser wiped his eyes with a sniff. “Next time, a little warning before the emotional ambush.” He clapped Cully on the shoulder and started guiding him upstairs. “You’re on comfort duty.”

Cully raised both hands. “I wanted to hear the rest.”

“Let them have their moment,” Fraser said over his shoulder. “Looks like it’s feelings time.”

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