Page 129 of The Shattered Rite
Her throat tightened. “So you really are just a royal spy.”
Malric stepped closer. The movement was deliberate. Controlled.
“You know I’m more than that.”
She swallowed, but didn’t back away. “Then tell me what you are.”
“No,” he said flatly. Then, a pause. “Unless you make me.”
She arched a brow, playing despite the unease prickling her skin. “What, should I threaten you?”
A flicker of something sharp crossed his face. “You could try.”
Silence stretched.
“Are you an assassin?” she asked, quiet.
When he smiled, it wasn’t cruel. It was tired. “What do you think?”
She hesitated. Then said what felt like the truth.
“I think you're more than what you're forced to do.”
His breath left him softly. “Then maybe you understand me better than most.”
Eliryn found herself watching his mouth as he spoke, his voice cutting soft and deliberate. His honesty felt like a blade offered hilt-first. But still a blade.
“So someone high up sent their assassin to watch me,” she said, voice steady despite the chill coiling beneath her ribs.
Malric’s gaze didn’t flinch. “I was sent to watch you. Yes.”
Eliryn’s throat tightened. “Because of the whole dragon thing.”
A slight nod. “You’re the last. That makes you valuable. Dangerous.”
Her voice cooled. “So just another mission, then. Another problem to track.”
“I thought so.”
She caught the shift in his tone. “Thought?”
Malric’s jaw flexed. For a long moment, he said nothing. Then, almost reluctantly:
“You weren’t supposed to be… this.”
Her brows furrowed. “This?”
He looked at her then—truly looked. And his voice came quieter. Raw.
“Someone I didn’t want to stop watching.”
The words hung between them, heavier than threats.
Vaeronth stirred warily in her mind.He is dangerous.
Eliryn forced herself to keep her tone light, despite the hollow expanding in her chest. “That’s intense.”
Malric’s smile flickered, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Isn’t it?”
