"𝑪𝑶𝑹𝑽𝑼𝑺: 𝑼𝑵𝑫𝑬𝑹 𝑯𝑰𝑺 𝑫𝑨𝑹𝑲 𝑾𝑰𝑵𝑮"

“𝟗: 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐊𝐍𝐄𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐆𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐓”

"You are a murderer!"

I whispered. As my voice echoed against the damp walls of the warehouse, the weight of the gun in my hand grew heavier with every passing second. Corvus took another step toward me. In that moment, the only thing neither he nor I noticed was the final opening Slius had found to break free from his chains.

In seconds, Slius lunged at me like a shadow. I couldn't comprehend what was happening as his hands violently gripped mine, still holding the weapon. When my back collided harshly with his chest, the cold weight of the metal pressed against my temple froze all my thoughts. Slius had wrapped one arm around my throat, pinning the muzzle of the gun to my head. As the air to my lungs was cut off, the helplessness of that night in the Lyon fire—the feeling of suffocating in smoke—returned like a recurring nightmare.

Corvus froze in his tracks. His unshakable authority was instantly replaced by the volatility of a man capable of anything. As he spread his hands to his sides, I saw his fingers twitch slightly. The man who always held the world on his fingertips was now standing before me, unraveling. I could see a single bead of sweat trickling down from his temple.

The sound of the guards drawing their weapons echoed through the silence like successive claps of thunder. But Corvus raised his hand, silencing them all with a single gesture. His eyes were locked onto mine; in those ocean-blue depths, I caught an expression for the first time that seemed to say,

"I'm sorry."

"Let her go, Slius,"

Corvus said. His voice was as low as a whisper, yet the ice-cold determination within it spread to every corner of the warehouse.

"If you harm her, it will be the end of you."

Slius let out a hysterical laugh right in my ear. He pressed the gun harder against my temple.

"The game is over, Corvus! I hold the strings now. Now, drop your weapon and tell your men to retreat, or Elara will pay the ultimate price!"

"Look at me, Elara,"

Corvus said, his voice trembling so much that I realized how heavy my death would weigh on him, even if I were to die right then.

"Just look at me. Do not close your eyes."

The all-controlling mask on Corvus’s face completely crumbled. The blue depths of his eyes gave way to an uncontrolled storm. As he slowly dropped to his knees, he didn't break eye contact for a single second. In that moment, I understood: this invincible name of the underworld was ready to cast aside his entire kingdom for a single breath of mine.

Slius’s arm around my throat tightened every second, depleting the last fragments of oxygen in my lungs. The coldness of the metal at my temple no longer felt like fear, but a strange numbness. Before me, Corvus—the most powerful man I had ever seen—was kneeling for me. The desperation in his ocean-blue eyes hurt more than Slius’s gun ever could.

"Look at him, Elara,"

Slius hissed into my ear.

"Look at how pathetic this kneeling giant truly is! With a single bullet, I will tear down both you and his empire."

Corvus’s hands were clenched into fists at his sides, his knuckles turning bone-white. His gaze never left me, but something within that look had changed. Inside that storm, a small signal appeared—one meant only for me to see. Corvus was gesturing with his eyes toward that thin, silver-handled knife hidden beneath the desk.

At that moment, the words I used to whisper to myself while trying to survive alone on the dangerous streets of Lyon flashed through my mind:

"The hunter is most vulnerable when he is most certain of his victory."

I had learned to survive when I was noboby on those streets; I had a ferocity that even Corvus didn't know about.

As Slius shouted at Corvus’s guards, ordering them to clear the way, his attention drifted for a split second. Drunk on his perceived victory, he had grown careless. The moment the pressure on my throat eased by a millimeter, the savage survival instinct that had allowed me to walk out of that fire in Lyon took over my entire body.

I bit down on his arm with all my might. As Slius’s agonized scream echoed off the warehouse ceiling, I drove my elbow hard into his solar plexus. With his sudden stumble, the target of the muzzle slipped away from my temple.

"Now!"

Corvus roared.

I felt time slow down. Corvus launched himself from his knees like a coiled spring. As Slius tried to realign his weapon, I watched Corvus lunge through the air like a soaring shadow. With a single move, he sent the gun flying from Slius’s hand and pinned him to the ground. As Corvus descended upon Slius like a nightmare, he grabbed me by the arm and pulled me behind him—into his unshakable sanctuary.

As Corvus’s hands wrapped around Slius’s throat, his eyes were no longer blue, but the pitch-black color of vengeance.

"I told you..."

he said, his voice muffled and terrifying, as if coming from seven levels underground.

"I told you not to touch what is mine... that the price would be your very breath."