Page 37 of Severed Heir

“I just... haven’t been sleeping.” I kept the bruises and scars out of sight, because I didn’t want him to know how truly terrible this first week had been.

But his eyes scanned me like he already knew something was wrong. Like he was searching for the parts of me no one else bothered to notice.

He looked the same, still impossibly beautiful—but there was something brittle in his gaze. Like one more truth might shatter him.

“I came to tell you something,” he said. “The guards gave me an hour of clearance. I don’t have long.”

He lifted that golden parchment, and my stomach turned when I saw the capital seal.

“What?”

“My father has reclaimed his sunlight from North Colindale.”

The words didn’t register. “What... what do you mean?”

“At the Bid, I claimed you as my heir. In return, he was allowed to take his sunlight back. He’s chosen your father’s land instead of Demetria.” Archer’s hand rose to my jaw again, steadier than his voice. “I didn’t want you hearing it from anyone else.”

“That wasn’t the deal,” I whispered. “If I won Serpent...”

“You won the heirship,” he said. “But Victor never said which sun.”

“You let him take the Northern sun?” My voice cracked. “My father—”

“There are still weeks before the frost settles.”

“The civilians, Archer. My people won’t survive that long.”

“I’ll take them in. All of them. I’ll shelter them in my land until your father negotiates a new bargain. I swear it.”

But I was already unraveling as another voice slid through the silence, taunting and uninvited.“Deceitful. My, oh my... your life is so intriguing.”

I shoved it away. “Did you know he would do this?” I asked

Archer’s response came heavy. “No. But there was no alternative. My father doesn’t have an heir. The bargain is over.”

“You mean the one where I marry Victor’s blood heir?”

“Yes.”

“I need to get back. I have to help my father.” I turned—but his hand caught my waist.

“You can’t just leave. The guards won’t allow it.”

“I don’t give a damn.” I spun on him, fury flaring through the ache in my chest. “I don’t even know if I will have a home to return to. And if leaving here means I’m only your heir and nothing more, then fine.”

“I never wanted you to be only my heir,” he said.

My pulse roared in my ears. “You don’t know what it’s cost me.”

His gaze dropped, then stopped at a bruise, faint but rising beneath my sleeve. It was in the shape of a fingerprint.

“What is that?”

“Nothing.”

Archer stepped closer, pulling my sleeve up. “Severyn… who did that to you?”

I yanked the sleeve down, turning away. “It doesn’t matter.”

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