Chapter 92
1 looked at Seraphine, surprised by her statement.
The wrong girl? What the hell was she on about now?
Her eyes, sharp and reflective like metal, narrowed at me. “She’s not the one, Harden. You’re wasting time.”
My brows rose. Okay. That was bold. Even for her. I was a stranger and yet she is acting as if I walked in with swords and knives ready to gut people.
Roan shifted beside me, his smile slipping into a frown. “Seraphine.”
“No,” she snapped, gaze locked on Harden. “You saw it too. The signs are wrong. The way it shifts when she walks in. She’s not the one.”
Her head tilted, too sharp, too fast. Her silver–mirror eyes reflected everything–me, Roan, Harden–like I wasn’t speaking to a person, but a living prophecy. “You’re not the one meant to sit beside him. You’re the shadow that slipped through the cracks.”
Okay. What?
I blinked, “I don’t know what twisted riddle that is, but you’re going to have to speak in full sentences if you want me to care.”
Seraphine’s mouth twitched, but not in a smile. Her voice lowered, calm in a way that somehow made the whole room feel colder. “You shouldn’t be here. Every step you’ve taken in this castle has shifted something that shouldn’t move. Threads that were dormant bound–are waking up. And if he keeps tying himself to you…”
She looked at Harden then, and for a second, even he didn’t meet her eyes.
“If you let her stay,” she continued, “you risk undoing what we’ve protected for centuries.”
My heart thudded once, sharp in my chest. “Undo what exactly?”
She looked back at me. Funny how I had expected hatred but got infifference. No pity. Just the same infuriating, unreadable calm. “You’re a thread out of place, girl. A broken line in the pattern.”
I stepped forward, fists clenched. Before I could ask what the hell that even meant, Harden lifted a hand calmly but it was Commanding.
He didn’t raise his voice. Didn’t glare. He just said one thing:
Talon
That was it.
No order. No explanation. Just the name..
The air in the room shifted
From the shadows near the door, Talon moved. Silently. It was so smooth if you don’t pay attention you wouldn’t have known. His cloak barely made a sound. He stepped up behind Seraphine, and even though she didn’t flinch, I saw the tension spike in her shoulders.
“Vinite sua serious,” she said quietly
“I am,” Harden replied. “I said you could speak. You did. Now leave.”
file formand toward him, tips pressed tight. For a second, I thought she might say more. Fight him. Call me another wrong name or some other стуры по
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3:06 PM
Chapter 92
Harden leaned back into his chair like it was just another ‘Tuesday. “Seraphine sees things differently. Her foresight isn’t always…warm.”
“She tried to verbally set me on fire, I muttered.
Roan snorted.
“She’s protective,” Harden said. “And unfiltered. Don’t take it personally.”
I crossed my arms, not bothering to hide my irritation. “She said I wasn’t the one.”
“She says a lot of things.” Harden replied.
Leyed him. “And what do you say?”
He didn’t answer right away.
Roan stepped back like he sensed this was a you–and–him moment and didn’t want to interfere.
Harden’s eyes stayed on mine, unreadable. Then, slowly, he stood.
“I told you earlier why I brought you here,” he said.
Yeah Bride and all that,” I said flatly. “Still processing.”
“I meant it”
He took a few steps forward.
My heart did this dumb thing where it tried to beat out of my ribs.
He didn’t touch me. Just stood close enough that I could feel the difference in air temperature between us. Or maybe that was my nerves. Who knew?
D
“The language,” he said quietly. “It’s not just for power. Not just because it’s old. It’s something that should only belong to the one beside the king.”
“Why me?” I asked “Why now?”
He exhaled “Because there’s not much time left. Because the world is shifting, and I can’t do this alone. And because…”
He hesitated.
Which wasn’t like him.
“Because the moment I saw you,” he said, “I wanted you beside me. Not because you’re Alaric’s. Not because you’re a spy. But because I looked at you and thought maybe”
! stared
No witty comeback. No sarcastic remark. Just dumbfounded. How many times did he rehearse that line to say it because I swear I wanted to call ug bullation because of how polished and reused it was.
I did toler
Harden topped back then, like he needed distance after all that honesty.
Moen cleared his throat “That’s your cur to say something. Elena.
I shank my head showty “I sprit
*Can’t Harden asked
“Both”
I lacked my lips, swallowing hard “Becse my life is already a disaster. Because i don’t trust my of you. Because your root is creepy, pour wet wants to gut me, thinver then is felt like a retisp.”
Then Hardes added ex Turnagh‘
2
3:06 PM
Chapter 92
“Can I go now?”
“No.”
(0
My brows lifted. “No?”
He stood, stepped around the table, and motioned to a nearby desk tucked in the corner. “Come here. I want to show you something.”
I hesitated for a second before following. The tension in the room had shifted–not as heavy as before, but still strange. Harden pulled a scroll from a case and unrolled it across the desk. The ink was thick, sharp. A map of the North. Not the basic one they taught children, either. This was layered -battle sites, outposts, towns, smaller settlements I didn’t even know existed.
“What am I looking at?”
He pointed to a section near the eastern border–small, marked in red. “These were once thriving villages. Trade points. People. Families. All gone.”
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