The courtyard still crackled behind us, the scent of scorched flesh thick in the air like a warning. Blood and prophecy clung to me in equal measure. My steps weren’t graceful, they were raw, each one carved from will alone. I didn’t walk back inside.
I stalked.
Barefoot. Smoking. Broken.
The stone beneath me hissed from the heat of my skin. No one dared speak. No one dared move. The nobles parted like reeds before a storm. My eyes were forward, unflinching. My mates flanked me in silence, radiating rage like shields made of fury.
Only when the palace doors slammed shut behind us did the spell break.
My knees buckled.
Daxos caught me before I hit the floor, his arms locking around my waist with a growl of pure instinct. My head fell against his chest, and I could hear his heartbeat,
