Page 145 of Emylia

“How about Sebastian for starters?”

“Sebastian is my best friend,” I said quickly—too quickly. My voice had sharpened before I could stop it. I still wasn’t able to claim him asmineeven though I desperately wanted to.

Josephine’s lip curled. “Right. Yourbest friend, who would sell his soul to Ezekiel for one look from you. Who hasn’t even looked at anyone else since the day fate shoved you into his world.” My stomach tightened. “If you even breathed his name, he’d drop everything for you. And he’ll never genuinely want me. Not because he doesn’t like me, but becauseyouexist.”

I flinched, then masked it with a scoff. “That’s not my Gods-damn fault.”

She rolled her eyes. “No, of course not. You just have that…invisible holdon him. Like gravity. And you pretend not to notice.”

I opened my mouth, ready to call her insane—but nothing came out. I glanced at Evie for backup, but she only gave me a look. A soft, sad shrug. One that said it was impossible to challenge Josephine’s accusation, not without lying.

“And don’t even get me started on your uncle.”

That one, I couldn’t argue. Uncle Thrainn would go to war for me. No hesitation. Blade swinging like he reveled in the challenge.

“What can I say, I’m kind of awesome.” The words were too bright. Too forced. They only seemed to infuriate her more; a vein throbbed at her temple.

“Well, this is where it stops. You need to back off.”

A brittle laugh escaped me. “You really think I’d stop spending time with someone just becauseyoutold me to?”

“Yes. You’ll stop hanging out with both of them because I told you to.”

Another laugh—sharper this time, like glass shattering. “That’s not going to happen.”

I ignored the voice in my head. The one that whispered I might’ve already ruined everything with both of them anyway.

“If you think I’ve been a bitch in the past, that’s nothing compared to what life will be like if you don’t start playing bymyrules. I am a very powerful enemy.” Her lip flicked up in a sneer, as she brushed a lock of hair off her shoulder.

“I’m not sure who you think you are, but I don’t give a flying fuck what you say. You don’t have any power over me.” I started to walk around her, but Josephine stepped into my path.

Her eyes flashed dangerously. Before I realized what she was doing, her hand shot out, taking hold of the bracelet around my wrist. My eyes widened, but the movement happened so fast that I had no time to even draw my arm away.

“Josie, don’t.” Evie looked horrified as she screamed out for her friend to stop. Even she recognised the implications to what she was threatening to do.

Yet, Josephine ignored her, her smile growing viciously. With one hard tug, she ripped my bracelet from my wrist. The broken fragments dropped to the ground like they meant nothing. As if in slow motion, I watched them fall, my heart breaking along with it.

“No!”

Dropping to my knees, I furiously gathered all the broken pieces. As I gathered each shattered piece of the broken bracelet, my fingers trembled over the ruby–cleaved almost clean in two. It shouldn’t have hurt this much, but seeing it split felt like something sacred had been ruined. Like hope itself had cracked open. And beneath it, the familiar fury began to rise–slow, seething, merciless. It rose from the hollow of my chest and staked its claim on my soul, curling its claws around what little was left unbroken.

I could almost feel the difference now. There was my anger, the one I’d had since I was a child… and then there was this new rage—an ancient rage.

I rose, slow and unyielding, like I was born from the storm. The air shifted around me, sensing something sacred had stirred–wind curling at my feet, drawn to the pulse of power. Then I pinned her with a stare–untamed, limitless, and crackling with the promise of ruin. The kind of gaze that could turn bone to ash and leave nothing behind but smoke and silence.

“How fucking dare, you.” The air crackled with a power so fierce, the walls shook–as if the very oxygen had vanished, afraid to exist, as though the world itself had forgotten how to breathe.

Josephine’s smile turned to confusion as she looked around, not connecting the change in the air to me quite yet.

“I’ll make you pay for that,” I whispered.

The thunder started to roll. I could sense it more clearly than I had the day before. I would strike her down where she stood. I would cleanse the earth of the despicable person she was. No one would mourn her, and no one would weep for her. And if they did, they would feel my wrath too.

A voice broke my trance. “Em, what’s taking so long…” Sebastian stopped mid-sentence, glancing nervously between us and then at the sky through the window. “Is everything okay?”

“You knew what that meant to me and you still broke it.” My gaze was still on Josephine, my outrage only intensifying.

“Do something, Bash.” Evie’s voice cracked as she pleaded with him.

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