Page 7 of Bound to the Dreadlord

But he knows.

I saw it.

For the briefest moment, the Dreadlord himself had been held captive.

I drop my gaze back to the floor, my breath shuddering from my lips.

Veylan exhales slowly, measured, and when he speaks again, his voice is quieter—but all the more lethal for it.

"You are either the most dangerous creature I have ever encountered," he murmurs, tilting his head slightly, "or the mostunaware."

I don’t answer. I wouldn’t know what to say.

A hand gestures sharply, and before I can react, I am yanked to my feet, my chains rattling in protest. My head snaps up just as Veylan stands as well, stepping down from his throne.

The gap between us shrinks.

Too close.

Too much.

He towers over me, and though he does not touch me, his presence is suffocating—like standing at the boundary of a predator’s jaws.

"I could have you executed," he murmurs, his breath warm against my temple.

I feel my pulse stutter. "Then why haven’t you?"

A slow, razor-sharp smirk curves his lips. "I have not decided what to do with you yet."

He lifts his fingers, just barely brushing against my chin before pulling away.

Just as abruptly, he turns. "Take her to my chambers. Leave her in chains."

The guards move immediately, gripping my arms before I can process the words.

He does not look back.

I am dragged away, my heart thundering, my mind screaming with a single, horrifying realization.

He is not letting me go.He is not killing me either.

4

VEYLAN

She lingers in my thoughts like a sickness that will not burn out.

She is in my chambers now, chained where I left her, and I am here, standing before the great obsidian table of my war room, pretending that I am not thinking about her.

The candlelight flickers against the black marble walls, casting jagged shapes that curl over the weapons mounted along the stone. Each blade bears past victories and wounds, each artifact a memory of power taken, lands burned, bodies broken.

Yet my grip tightens on the edges of the map before me, the parchment crinkling under my fingers.

A human girl should not have this kind of power over me.

I cannot ignore what I saw.

When she sang, something shifted.

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