Page 171 of Severed Heir

Something twisted low in my stomach, not fear exactly, but nerves. The kind that made your palms sweat and your breath go shallow. The kind that took you back to being nine years old and sneaking into the iced forest long after your father told you not to.

I crept deeper into the compound, past rusted carriages half-sunken in earth, past shattered shields and copper siding curled like brittle palm leaves, flaking beneath years of sun and silence.

I didn’t want to do this. But I didn’t want her to suffer, either. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I was almost certain I’d seen a hose coiled near one of the sheds.

I squinted into the shadows, but the moonlight had vanished behind the clouds. Everything ahead was swallowed by black.

And I couldn’t see a damn thing.

“Want some help?”Damien’s voice sounded in my mind.“You look a little lost.”

“Not from you.”

“What happens if you’re caught? Surely, you’re up to something.”

“Malachi needs water. Use your mind-reading trick and tell me where the kitchen is.”

He let out a dry laugh through the bond.“You want me to invade a guard’s mind? You think they’re that easy to crack?”

“Was I?”

“You were untrained.”

“Get out of my mind and leave for good.”

The wind stirred loose dust across the path, curling through my fingers like ash. I thought he had left for good.

“Three cabins down,”he said at last.“The one with the broken window. There’s a kitchen inside.”

“Whose mind did you pull that from?”

“One I’ve known for his whole life.”

Kian.

I tugged my cloak higher and slipped into the shadows, keeping low and silent. The night felt stretched thin, every gust of wind brushing my neck like a warning. I moved like a Scavenger might, practiced and unnoticed.

Up ahead, a guard staggered through the doorway, sloshing a thick drink over the porch. Another followed, laughing too loud for the silence around us. And then came Callum.

They were drunk.

“It’s a shame Lorna outranks you,” one of them slurred. “I’d kill for a night alone to interrogate Miss Herring.”

“Damn girl cheated death,” the other muttered. “Should’ve stayed buried. I hate the elites.”

I pressed myself flat against the wall, heart hammering in my chest. Then Callum’s voice cut through the night—clear, deliberate, and far too sober.

“Lorna’s been summoned to the prisons,” he said, loud enough to carry. “Which means I get to decide what happens to the false shadow heir and the blonde bitch when she gets posted.”

“Kian won’t like that,” someone laughed. “He follows her like a dog. He tried to duel me once, too. One kick to the ribs and he remembered where he stands.”

“Oh, Iknowhe won’t,” Callum replied, his amusement dimming. “Night Realm civilians are sworn to protect Severyn. He’d throw himself into a fire if Ilaid a hand on her.”

My pulse surged.

Kian was bound to protect me. If Callum struck, Kian would take the blow. And they were planning to use that against him—to test my quell.

I slipped into the third cabin.

---