Page 129 of Severed Heir

Maybe now Veravine’s flame would guide me. Maybe it knew where I needed to be better than I did.

Ash coiled at our feet. Heat flared up my arms, the air thick with ember and scorched earth. Then the pain struck, sharp and jarring, as if the portal were carving something open inside of me.

It wasn’t just askingwherewe wanted to go. It was askingwhy.

We landed hard on barren soil. My knees buckled, the impact jarring as the ground cracked beneath our boots. The air was thick with soot and heat. In the distance, barely visible through the shimmer and smoke, loomed the Malvoria Institute.

“Are you okay?” Archer asked.

“I’m fine,” I said, but my eyes were fixed on the ground.

When I finally looked up, he was still watching me. Soot streaked his face, jaw clenched like the guilt might split him open. “I should’ve stopped it,” he said quietly. “I let you almost marry him.”

“Then let me hate you for it,” I whispered. My fingers curled around his collar. Then I kissed him before I could talk myself out of it.

His hands gripped my waist like he was afraid I’d vanish. “I missed you,” he breathed against my mouth. “No more distance. I don’t care what it costs. We stay together.”

I pulled back just enough to look him in the eyes. “Yes,” I whispered. “No more distance.”

His knuckle traced under my chin, slow and reverent. “When we get home,” he murmured, “I’m tearing this dress off with my teeth.”

A voice cut through the haze. “Are you two done?” Damien asked.

Archer immediately stepped in front of me. “Absolutely not. She’s mine.”

Damien smirked, tilting his head in mock amusement. “Ooh. Big brother’s got bite. So protective. So possessive.” But his eyes told a different story. His eyes said war.

“Being this close to Malvoria must feel strange, Severyn,” he continued. “The panic I heard in your mind was… devastating.”

“I got out,” I said

We walked in silence, each step carrying us farther from the institute, from the weight of everything we’d left behind.

A beat later, Damien spoke through our bond.“Did you tell him about that barter with Rok?”

I had blissfully forgotten about the deal I’d made with Rok to keep my heirship quiet. And now, with no plan to get thoseshadows back, the longer I kept this secret, the harder it would be to explain to Archer.

“We should settle in for the night,” I muttered. Truthfully, I was exhausted. I didn’t want to argue, didn’t want to think. I just wanted to sit.

“We’ve been walking for five minutes,” Damien said dryly. “At this rate, it’ll take us days to reach the edge.”

I ignored him.

“Any guesses on who my father is?” I asked, too casually to be harmless, as I arranged a few stones in a loose circle and coaxed a flame to life.

Archer couldn’t read my thoughts anymore, but somehow, he still said the name I’d been thinking.

“Lynwood. It makes sense. He knew your mother.”

Damien let out a short, cutting laugh. “Lynwood? The front desk clerk at the Ravensla Inn?”

“He’s the only one who fits,” I said, flexing my fingers over the rising heat. “They were childhood friends.”

And just like that, I was Damien’s favorite mystery again.

“At the Bid,” he said, “your father claimed you had Serpents onbothsides. He knew. That means your father had to be one.”

Archer rubbed at his temple. “Could’ve been anyone. Serpents host gatherings every season. Maybe your mother had... one night with someone powerful.”

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