The chains cut into my wrists as the Witch Queen’s soldiers dragged me through the forest, blindfolded, and bruised, my body aching from the fight. My thoughts were a storm—Ryker’s face, Kael’s warning, Kael’s betrayal. But it wasn’t him who had done this. It was someone else. Someone I trusted.
The blindfold was ripped off. Moonlight poured down over the stone clearing. Standing at the center of it, cloaked in velvet and shadow, was her. Lysandra. The Witch Queen. Her eyes glowed like molten silver, her grin sharp enough to slice bone.
And standing beside her, blade at his hip and betrayal written all over his face, was Axel.
"Surprised?" he said, voice too calm for the storm inside my chest.
I shook my head, trying to hold my voice steady. "No. Just disgusted."
Lysandra’s laughter w
