-Lucien Draven:
I stayed outside, staring blankly at the firewood Ronan had just split, my mind stuck on the way he had looked at me. The way he had spoken.
"You're nothing to me, and I'm nothing to you."
The words echoed in my head like a curse, sharp and final.
It felt like a stab at my beating heart. A stab by him using his own silver blade exactly like he threw his blade at my chest the first time I met, but this time, he made sure to carve my heart out of my chest.
I shouldn't have cared.
I shouldn't have let it hurt.
But it did.
I clenched my hands into fists, my nails pressing into my palms, trying to chase away the dull ache spreading in my chest.
Maybe he was right. Maybe I was nothing to him. Maybe I couldn't have him.
Okay.
Fine.
At least I still had Elara.
At least I could have one person I liked.
That was enough. It had to be enough.
But even as I told myself that, I felt unsettled.
