“Status?” I asked flatly, eyes narrowing as I scanned their faces.
Ronan glanced at Kieran, then back at me, shrugging. “Nothing. Woods are dead. Might as well head back home.”
He’s lying.
His voice was too casual, but I knew he was lying. I caught the shift in his eyes—flicking to Kieran, who still hadn’t said a word.
My attention shifted to him next. He didn’t speak, and I know he wasn’t much of a talker unless he had a drink in him or was trying to fuck a girl, but his silence said enough.
“Try again,” I said. “And this time, don’t bullshit me.”
“We aren’t,” Ronan defended, crossing his arms.
I levelled a finger at Ronan. “You’re a shit liar.”
Then I glanced at Kieran. “And you haven’t said a damn word. That alone tells me something's off.”
He didn’t bother looking at me—just stared out at the treeline like it might offer him an escape from this conversation.
The silence stretched. Thick. Tense
“I’m going to beat it out of you if you don’t tell me.”
The wind picked up, and the scent of cherries hit my nose. Just then, a thud hit the ground in front of us—light, controlled.
A woman just dropped from the damn trees.
I ran my tongue across my teeth before I could stop it. Fuck.
She was… lethal. Wavy white hair spilt down her back, catching the moonlight like silk. Her silver eyes locked on me—shimmering with an eerie violet flicker that screamed power cloaked in pretty packaging. That black jumper dress hugged every curve like it was designed to test my restraint, tailored to distract, to pull my focus where it shouldn’t be.
She looked like sin wrapped in silk and shadows, and every instinct in me screamed trouble. Kieran shifted in his spot, barely perceptible, and Ronan tensed just enough to confirm what I already suspected.
They knew who she was.
She looked at me with those silver eyes, and they sliced straight through me, dragging up pieces of memory I’d buried years ago and sworn to never touch again.
The scent—cherry and vanilla—hit me again, cloying and familiar, like a ghost from someone I thought I had lost forever.
The freckles, that scowl, that fucking hair.
My jaw clenched. A slow rising heat crawled up my spine—not desire. Anger. And judging by the way her smirk stretched across her face, she knew.
“Hi, Darian.”
My hands curled into fists at my side.
“You.”
Chapter 13
RAVENA
Lying in bed, I felt like I was being crushed under a mountain of bricks. My skull throbbed like someone had taken a sledgehammer to it—repeatedly—and my limbs were as useful as wet noodles. Every tiny shift sent spikes of pain behind my eyes.
Days like this, where the magic in my body was trying to escape, made me weak, and I hated it. I was fed up feeling like this.
After Darian realised who I was, he stormed away, and Kieran went with him, and that was almost a month ago. Christmas had been and gone, Xarothar slept, and Ronan came and cooked with me.
