River stepped forward, stunned. “What do you mean...?”
Thas’s expression twisted into something hateful.
“The mate bond was making him too strong... too calm. He was becoming someone we couldn’t manipulate anymore. An Omega like you? You were not a threat from the beginning. Useless. Soft. Weak. But somehow you gave him power we couldn’t match.”
He leaned forward, eyes gleaming with venom.
“You need to die.”
His words landed like thunder in the chamber, making the torches shudder. Heiko’s jaw clenched as he stepped closer, fury radiating off him in heat waves, but River placed a hand on his chest — holding him back, her own body shaking.
There it was. The truth. Ugly and unmasked.
Everything they feared.
River stood taller, eyes shining with the tears she refused to let fall. She l
