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I’d heard threats before. I’d endured cruelty. I’d survived captivity.
But this wasn’t exaggeration.
This was experience.
My gaze dropped to his hand still resting at my waist, then lifted slowly back to his face. And in that moment, I saw it the faint, carefully buried weight behind his eyes.
Whatever Raiden had done to him…
It was leverage.
Something deep enough, sharp enough, to force a man who dreamed of rebellion to bow his head. To stay. To wait. To calculate instead of strike.
To survive.
Draven removed his finger from my lips.
“I’m not telling you to choose him,” he said quietly. “And I’m not asking you to choose me and the people at the hideout.”
His gaze held mine, steady and unflinching.
“I’m telling you that Raiden doesn’t lose control,” he finished. “He loan
