I went still.
Arjan’s words seed to echo in the cold, suspended in the air like a blade about to fall. The girl. He ant .
Why? Why would these wolves want ?
When Diaval first inford Rion of the Arthien rogues, I imagined a skirmish, maybe an old rivalry, but not this.
My stomach twisted as I was reminded that Arthien wasn’t a pack bound by loyalty or law. They were people who sold their teeth to whoever had enough gold or had valuables they could trade.
And if they were here, demanding , then soone had bought them.
Soone like Finn.
My chest burned as his na crashed into like a curse.
That goddamn Finn.
He had done this. He’d paid them to drag back like stolen property.
The thought made bile rise in my throat.
"Are you truly certain you have the Millow Shade?"
Rion’s voice cut through the silence, deceptively calm. But I could sense the intrigue lacing his tone.
I turned to him, narrowing my eyes. There it was—that glint of interest in his gaze, unmistakable. Interest for the relic.
The Millow Shade.
The na was famiiar, and I rembered so details of it.
I had read about it in the pages of old tos, half-convinced it was legend. A relic shaped like a golden leaf, with a mirrored heart at its center, capable of holding a hidden place within itself. A place no one could enter unless the wielder willed it. A sanctuary, a prison, folded into the palm of a hand.
But it was supposed to be gone. Lost for over a century.
Arjan’s scarred face twisted into a grin, teeth flashing white against the ruin of flesh.
"How could I lie to you, Rion? We both know I wouldn’t make it three steps out of your borders if I dared because of your wards. The earth itself would spit my bones before I could run to the end of it."
Then, slowly, he raised his hand.
And I saw it.
The Millow Shade glead in his palm, no larger than a man’s hand, its surface shimring with a faint golden light.
The edges curled like a leaf caught in perpetual autumn, but the center... the center rippled, like molten glass or a mirror caught between reflections. It seed to pull the light toward it, as though swallowing the world.
My breath faltered.
Even from this distance, I could feel its strangeness, like it wasn’t rely an object but a living thing, watching.
Rion’s eyes flickered, shadows dancing around him.
"How did you find it?" His voice was too sharp, too intent.
I searched his face, desperate to read him, but Rion was a fortress.
Was he truly considering trading away for that... thing?
No. He couldn’t. He wouldn’t.
He had risked so much to bring here. He had stood against Finn, had torn from the North, crossed miles of hostile lands, broken through borders.
Would he really surrender now after what he’d done?
Or had I been wrong all along?
What if he hadn’t done it for ? What if it was never about at all?
What if I had only been a pawn in rivalry with Finn, a stolen piece moved across the board to wound his rival’s pride? Maybe he only ant to spite him.
The cold pressed harder into my skin, burrowing beneath my ribs.
Arjan laughed, rough and guttural.
"I’ve got connections. You know Arthien never stays in one place. We travel, we hear whispers, we see things others don’t. A little persistence, a little luck, and this beauty fell into my hands. At first, I thought I’d sell it to the highest bidder." He tilted his head, scar creasing with his grin. "But then I rembered you, Rion. Your... fondness for collecting rare things."
"Collecting?" Rion’s mouth twitched, though not quite a smile. "You make sound like so petty rchant."
"Obsession, then?" Arjan countered, the words heavy with mockery.
The snow seed to hold its breath. Even the wolves pacing behind him stilled, their golden eyes fixed upward.
"When the Levian pack reached out," Arjan went on smoothly, "I realized I could make better use of it. They offered us gold, a great amount soone like won’t dare refuse, and they told us about a girl. A girl worth retrieving."
His eyes cut to , humorous and cruel. "Turns out soone important wants her back."
My chest clenched so tightly I thought I might choke on the air.
This was Finn’s hand at work, reaching across miles of frozen land, trying to drag back into his cage.
I forced myself not to flinch under Arjan’s gaze.
Rion tilted his head, eyes unreadable as they flicked toward .
"Amazing," he murmured finally, almost thoughtful. "You never fail to impress, Arjan. Always so resourceful. Always so... enterprising."
The scarred wolf bowed his head slightly, mock humility. "You flatter ."
"I don’t flatter," Rion replied. His voice was soft, but the warmth in it sent a shiver down my spine.
The air thickened. Their words were simple, almost polite, but beneath them ran a river of violence and calculation.
I felt like I stood at the edge of sothing vast and terrible, the world about to tip into ruin.
Arjan’s grin widened. "Still, you understand what I’m offering. You know the worth of this." He held up the Millow Shade again, its surface rippling faintly. "And you know the worth of her."
His chin jerked toward . "But I’m not greedy. I know a fair trade when I see one."
I could feel the tension coil around like a noose. My heart hamred, each beat a desperate plea that Rion would refuse. That he would laugh in Arjan’s face, tear the artifact from his hand, and rip the rogues apart for daring.
I wished that to happen not because Rion was the better man between him and Finn, but because I had my own plans. And I couldn’t afford to return to Finn’s chains.
But Rion’s expression was unreadable. His eyes narrowed ever so slightly, as though weighing invisible scales.
My pulse thundered in my ears.
And then he spoke.
"It’s a deal, then."
The world seed to drop out from under .
"Give the relic..." He paused, and then his gaze slid to . Ocean eyes caught mine, holding like shackles. His mouth curved into a smile—dark, dangerous, rciless.
"...and she is all yours."
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