I blink. “What?”

His grin sharpens. Cruel.

“That you’re gone.”

My stomach twists.

Veylan.

Does he know? Did he hear me?

I was alone when they took me. No guards. No one watching.

Did he notice? Would he even care?

A memory slashes through me.

His hands on my skin. His lips against mine. The storm inside him, hungry and violent and consuming.

Something in my gut clenches.

I should not want him to come for me.

But I do.

I press my lips together.

The noble sees it. He leans in, voice lowering.

“Do you think he’ll save you, little human?” His breath ghosts against my ear, mocking. “Do you think you mean something to him?”

My throat closes.

I look him in the eyes.

And I laugh.

Soft. Sharp.

His amusement flickers, momentarily thrown.

And I take it.

Use it.

Lean in, closer than I should.

I let my lips part, let my voice dip into something low, something silk-soft and deadly.

"Why don’t you unchain me and find out?"

His smirk falters.

For a second—just a second—the shadows shift.

A ripple.

The smallest tremor of something that is not his own.