Page 63 of Bound to the Dreadlord

Stillness.

Too much stillness.

The room is wrong.

A chair overturned.

The table scraped across the floor.

My stomach clenches.

A single hairpin glints in the dim light.

I step inside, slow, controlled.

Not because I am not furious.

But because I am calculating.

One breath. Then another.

Glass crunches beneath my boots.

The scent of something metallic lingers.

Not blood.

Something else.

She wouldn’t leave.

Not without a fight.

Not without clawing and screaming.

Someone took her.

And they left their scent behind.

Velkiron.

The realization snaps something deep.

Primal.

Unforgivable.

I breathe once.

Then I stop.

The rage creeps in.

Boils under my skin, thick and all-consuming.

They took what was mine.

My jaw locks. My fists clench.

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