Darius POV
I knew the moment she made the decision.
Not because she said it.
Not because she looked at me.
But because something in the bond shifted—subtle, but final, like a door closing quietly instead of slamming.
“I’m going to him.”
Nyra’s voice had been steady when she said it, but there was something beneath it that made my chest tighten in a way the poison hadn’t managed yet.
Resolve.
Not hesitation.
Not fear.
Choice.
I pushed myself upright despite the pain tearing through my side, my hand tightening against the wound as the poison pulsed beneath my skin like something alive.
“You don’t know what you’re walking into,” I told her, my voice rough but controlled.
She didn’t look away.
“I do,” she said.
No.
She didn’t.
And that was the problem.
My jaw tightened as I
