Page 28 of Severed Heir

“Someone’s gotta clean the mess.” His voice was hollow. Then he nudged my elbow. “Honestly? I consider this an act of heroism.”

A girl hissed from the shadows. “If the guards hear you talking, they’ll make you fight next. I’m warning you.”

One of the girls, thin and pale with dirt-smudged cheeks and calloused fingers, began to hum under her breath. Her cloak might have once been white, now stained and dulled to gray. The sound wasn’t quite a song. No words, just a haunting string of tones and hums that didn’t belong in a place like this.

It made me stop scrubbing for half a second. She didn’t look up. Didn’t speak. Just kept humming, like it was the only thing keeping her sane.

A guard shouted down the corridor, and the sound stopped instantly.

Everyone snapped to the wall, spines straight and eyes down. The humming girl yanked me upright. “Don’t speak,” she hissed, her fingers tapping that same rhythm against the stone.

Rok appeared first, shirtless, muscles slick with sweat, chest gleaming like he’d already won two fights before. Behind himcame the others. The older guards with iron-wrapped badges strapped across their armor like trophies. Some had been here for years. Some had never left. Charles was in his sixth. I’d never asked why he stayed.

Rok inspected the ground with a nod. “Well, I’ve never seen this dungeon look so clean.” He crossed his arms. “Just in time to get it bloody again,” Rok said.

Then Myla stepped into the dungeon, wearing a cropped leather vest that exposed the branded M on her skin—the Malvoria crest. She wasn’t just a guard now. She was property. We all were.

More guards filed in, forming a jagged ring around us. Rok raised a hand and silence dropped like a blade. “As you know,” he said, his voice slicing through the dark, “missions are earned, and we have two openings. Who’s up for the challenge?”

Myla stepped forward. “I will.”

Rok raised his voice. “And who’ll face her?”

The girl beside me stepped forward and that tapping rhythm stopped. “I’ll go,” she whispered. “I’ve been on dungeon duty for a year.”

A year.

Frost gathered at Myla’s fingertips. Regret flickered in her eyes as she did a once over on the dungeon girl. “She’s not fit to fight,” Myla said quietly.

“She’s gone hopeless,” Rok said. “Injure her enough to send her to the infirmary. But if Miss Giesel here wins, she takes your place as a lead guard.”

Myla hesitated, clearly questioning whether this frail, sun-starved girl could actually win a duel. Then she stepped closer, lifting her ice relic as the humming girl continued her song.

I didn’t look—but I heard the crack of ice, followed by a scream that wasn’t Myla’s. In that moment, I realized something. I couldn’t read her power anymore. I didn’t know her at all.

More volunteers stepped forward. More fights. More blood. The floor we’d scrubbed gleamed red again. And Myla? She won them all.

Rok prowled the line, grin wide and cruel. “We don’t need hopelessness,” he barked. “We need guards. Let Giesel serve as your warning.”

Beside me, Ellison muttered, “This is how you become a royal guard?”

Rok’s gaze flicked to him. “You beat the person ahead of you,” he said coldly. “Or you kill them.”

My hands clenched at my sides. And before I could stop myself, I said, “Does Charles know what you’re doing here?”

Rok’s boots scraped on the stone as he turned, crouching to meet my eyes. “How do you think Charles kept his position as one of our top guards?” he hissed. “Your brother’s hands are bloodier than most. Some of it his own family.”

The air shifted. “What if I don’t want to hurt anyone?” I snapped.

Rok’s mouth curled into a slow, vicious smile. “Then scrub, little Serpent’s pet. Scrub until you rot.”

I didn’t even have time to breathe before his hand clamped around my jaw, hard enough to blur my vision. “You’ll be fun to break,” he growled.

Flame sputtered weakly at my palms, but it was too late. Then a hand yanked Rok back.

The man who grabbed him had steel eyes and blond hair shaved close at the sides. I didn’t recognize his face, until he spoke. “That’s Charlie’s sister,” he said coolly. “Touch her again, and you’ll answer for it when he returns.”

He dragged Rok away without waiting for a response. I gave him a silent nod of thanks. He was the same guard who’d dueled Myla earlier—Fraser, if I’d heard her right.

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