Valtira.
Zarek turned away from me for just a heartbeat.
But as soon as my words were out, he snapped back to face me with intensity.
I watched the shift happen inside him.
His shoulders stiffened. His jaw tightened so hard I could see the muscle ticking beneath his skin. His entire body trembled—not subtly, not faintly, but visibly—as though something volcanic had just cracked beneath his ribs.
I could not tell if it was rage.
Or fear.
Or the unbearable weight of everything collapsing around him at once.
“We will be far away from you,” I said, my voice steadier than I felt. “We will stay away from you and your brother—the same brother who wants my child’s head because he thinks she is a threat to the throne he stole.”
The words were blades, and I meant for them to cut.
His eyes
