Page 103 of Severed Heir

We crept into the corridor, every footstep absorbed by stone and shadow. The air was thick, heavy with old magic and the risk of being caught. I barely breathed.

Then it came, the hiss of metal unsheathing behind us. I spun around, shoving Cully behind me. Flame surged to my fingertips, pulsing like a second heartbeat.

A figure stepped into view, sword raised, curls spilling like fire down her shoulders.

“Myla,” I whispered, my voice catching. “It’s me.”

Her blade didn’t drop. “You broke the wards.”

I stilled. Before I could speak, another voice drifted from the darkness, calm and venom-laced. “Well, well,” Callum said, emerging with a lazy saunter. “A lost heir, sneaking through the Institute like a common thief,” said Callum.

Flame coiled higher. I clenched my jaw, forcing it back.

And then Ellison stepped into the light like he’d been waiting. “Why are you here?” he asked.

I swallowed hard. “I came to find Ellison,” I said, pulse hammering. “To apologize for earlier.”

Ellison tilted his head. “You came all this way to apologize?”

“Yes,” I snapped, sharper than I meant. “Because I owed you that much.” I smiled.

Callum’s gaze sharpened. “And what, exactly, are you doing in a journalist’s dorm?”

“He wrote about me. About Archer,” I said. “I needed to make things clear.”

Cully opened his mouth. “Severyn’s my—”

“Friend,” I cut in, too fast. “We’re friends.”

Callum raised a brow. “You risked your life for a midnight apology and a friend?”

“The constant darkness makes me restless.”

He laughed under his breath. “Endearing.” His voice turned sharp. “Still don’t believe you.”

Screw it. Time for chaos. I turned to Ellison. “Funny, I could’ve sworn I heard you talking about seducing me earlier. What was it—something about pretending to be my friend?”

His face drained of color. “What? I would never do that.”

“To be clear,” I said, lifting my chin, “if you don’t let me walk out of here, I’ll tell your lead guard exactly what you’ve been up to.”

Callum stepped forward, blade raised. But the steel halted midair. He stared down at his own arm, frozen in place. “What the—?”

Myla hadn’t moved. But frost bloomed along the floor beneath her boots, her power humming like winter’s breath.

“Severyn Blanche is free to go,” came Charles’s voice from the shadows, slicing through the silence.

I didn’t wait. I grabbed Cully’s arm and bolted for the exit.

Charles’s voice echoed behind us. “Break our wards again, and we won’t hesitate. Kill first, that’s the rule. It’s kinder than what comes next.”

“I know the rules,” I muttered as the door slammed shut behind us. “You’re the one who lives by them.”

We tore across the courtyard, dew collecting on our boots. By the time we reached the outskirts, Naraic was already waiting.

Cully stopped dead in his tracks. “No. No, no, no. I don’t fly.”

“You’ve read everything there is to know about dragons. Apply it.”

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