Page 39 of The Panther's Price

“She died for them.”

Silence stretched between them again, gentler this time.

Evryn looked at him through the firelight, at the way the orange glow played off the edge of his sharp cheekbones, the faint scar by his jaw.

“I used to think Eamon was the only one who could understand what I was,” she said.

Lucien looked up, meeting her gaze.

“And now?”

Evryn hesitated, then whispered, “Now I’m not sure if that terrifies me or makes me want to stay.”

Lucien’s throat bobbed with a swallow.

He didn’t answer because he didn’t have to.

Because this time, theybothstayed.

SEVENTEEN

LUCIEN

He stabbed her in the dream.

Watched the blade sink between her ribs, slow and sure. Watched her eyes go wide. Not with pain. Withpeace.And she smiled.

Not sweet.

Not cruel.

Just... accepted it. Like she always knew it would end this way.

Lucien woke with a strangled breath, lungs burning, hand reaching for a blade that wasn’t there.

The fire had died. Only embers left.

Evryn was asleep a few feet away, curled against her coat, a faint shadow ripple still curling around her shoulder like it wanted to protect her even while she dreamed.

Lucien sat up and moved away.

Quietly. Carefully.

He needed air. He neededdistance.Because that dream—it wasn’t just fear. It was a warning. A prophecy he didn’t want to believe in. Because what if that was what shewantedfrom him? To be the weapon? The executioner? The final rite of a bloodline too old to survive?

What if she was alreadyresignedto being destroyed? What if he was already halfway in love with someone he was destined to break?

He didn’t speak to her the next morning.

Just short commands and observations during her training, trying to bury the terror under discipline. He handed her a blade. Then a charm. Then shadow-threaded bone to test her reflexes.

Evryn didn’t question it.

She noticed, though. He could tell.

She always noticed.

“You’re tense today,” she said after her third controlled shadow projection shimmered to life beside her. “Brooding harder than usual. Didn’t think that was possible.”

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