Page 20 of Severed Heir

I rolled my eyes and stepped back, heart still racing. But as I turned, a familiar face snagged my attention.

Cully was leaning in the doorway like he hadn’t just missed the most emotionally complicated kiss of my life. His quill was tucked neatly into his vest pocket, which, thank the realms, meant he hadn’t seen it.

I brushed past him, breath shallow, thoughts spinning, but before I could slip away, the doors blasted open with a sharp gust.

“Severyn—wait up!” he called. “Excuse me!” he added, weaving through a few guards.

I turned sharply. “Hello, Cully. What’s this? Come to watch the initiates or flirt with my friend again?”

He raised both hands in mock surrender. “Okay, I didn’t know Myla was your friend. We hooked up a few times, and wewere drunk. Would you like me to say it meant something or not?”

I narrowed my eyes. “Neither of those, actually. But if I had to pick, I’d prefer it meant something.” I paused, shaking my head. “No—change of topic.”

He flinched. “I haven’t seen you in months. I asked about Knox, and all I got was ‘he’s fine’?”

“What do you want me to say?” My voice came out sharper than I intended. “Because I don’t want my name in your journals.”

Cully was smart, and I was terrible at lying to him. I didn’t want Cully writing about me. Not when so many were watching. Not when my heirship hadn’t been announced.

His golden eyes dimmed. “Do you think I will write about you behind your back?”

“No,” I said, voice softening. “I’m asking you not to write about me at all.”

His hand dropped from my shoulder. “If your name ends up in the archives, it won’t be alone. Every guard, every initiate, every soul in this place will be there, too.” He hesitated, guilt slipping across his face. “I’m stationed here for two years—unless I find something big enough to earn a transfer. I already made one mistake... and it nearly cost me everything.”

“What mistake?” I asked. “Cully, you never told me.”

He shook his head. “I—I wasn’t honest in an entry. Doesn’t matter now.”

“All I’m asking is that you keep my name out of it.”

His fingers hovered over the empty notebook tucked beneath his arm. “I can’t promise that. This is my career.”

“Then I guess we’re done here.”

His arms sagged as I turned to walk away. “I won’t write about the kiss,” he said quietly. “No one else saw it but me. Butstories like that? People would kill for them. Don’t make it obvious you’re seeing a Serpent.”

I swallowed against the ash in my throat, glancing back. “Thank you.”

I trusted Cully with my life. But death had a habit of finding the people I loved. I couldn’t risk it again—not with Cully. Not with Myla. Her death had been a silent scream in my mind the night Archer held the seven keys.

Cully exhaled behind me. “What happened at the Academy to ruin you? Charles never talked about it, but I saw how different he was when he came home.”

I could’ve told him how I learned our father was a tyrant. How the ice wall didn’t care who lived or died. How silence became safer than survival.

But that story? It never sold.

Cully was too good to share my blood. He still believed some stories ended in a happily ever after. So I left him with only a few soft, final words. “I’m really glad you’re here... but I don’t want you to get hurt.”

The warmth in my chest struck like a slap.

And barely a breath later, Antonia caught my arm. “There you are,” she said sweetly. “Shall we walk to bladecasting together? I’d hate to miss the moment someone knocks the wind out of you.”

I pressed my lips into a thin line. “What did I do to make you hate me?”

Her silver eyes burned straight through me. “You did nothing. And yet, everyone gives a damn about you.”

“I didn’t ask for any of it, Antonia.”

---