Page 139 of Rise of the Siren Queen

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My blood boiled, and I saw fucking red

That was all I needed.

No more hiding.

I stepped into the room.

“Well, well…” I drawled, stepping out of the shadows like a blade unsheathed. “Don’t start this party without me, love.”

The words dipped with mockery, sweet and slow.

But the venom? That was real.

Draven’s head jerked toward me. His arrogant little smirk stuttered for half a second.

Just long enough.

Good. I want him to wonder if the devil had just walked in.

I stepped in fully now, slowly and deliberately, until the light hit my face and my gaze locked with his.

“I see you’ve been busy,” I said, voice low and laced with steel. “Chaos suits you, Draven. Brings out the pathetic little coward you really are.”

That flicker of rage in his eyes?

Satisfaction.

But I wasn’t here for his tantrum.

My attention shifted to her.

Gods, even now.

She stood tall, head high, the weight of grief and fury wrapped around her like a crown of thorns. I saw the cracks beneath the strength. I saw the cost. But she wore it all like armor. She looked like a queen, and hell if it didn’t punch the breath from my lungs.

She is everything.

And she ismine.

Then Draven laughed. That smug, slippery sound that made my fingers twitch with the urge to rip his throat out.

“Ah, so this is the human,” he said, voice like rot. “A hybrid? How charming. And here I thought the entertainment couldn’t get any better. Tell me, how does it feel to be so… out of place?”

I smiled.

Not the pleasant kind.

The kind that warns you the fall is coming.

“Funny,” I said, getting closer. “I was just wondering the same about you.”

My eyes darkened. My voice dropped.

“You’re standing in the presence ofmymate. Touch her again, and I’ll snap every bone in your body before you can form another insult.”

That wasn’t a threat. It was a promise written in blood.

I meant every syllable.

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