Page 99 of Prince of Darkness and Deceit

Heat gathers in my hands. My gaze flies down, and panic stabs me in the chest when light flickers across my skin. I curl my fingers into fists and look back up, my heart thumping.

“What is that?” Lev stares down.

My stomach clenches.

Lie like your life depends on it…because it does.

“What are you talking about?”

“The boots.” He scowls. “Where did you get them?”

Oh.

Relief flows through me, along with indignation, and I throw his words back at him. “You’re too smart to not already know.”

His eyes flash. “Lara, this isn’t⁠—”

“I’ll see you later, Lev.” I brush past him, not interested in listening to whatever warning sits on his tongue.

My temper is volatile, and I’m at risk of saying something I’ll regret.

But his fingers catch my wrist.

“Lara—”

I stop. Turn.

His voice is quieter now, pleading. “I’m sorry. I just... I need you to be safe. Promise me that you’ll be careful.”

I register the pained note in his voice, and something twists my heart. Not quite anger. Not quite forgiveness.

“I’ll be careful.”

He nods and steps forward, pressing a kiss to my brow—gentle, familiar, but wrong.

As he pulls away, something between us fractures. His anguished eyes tell me we both feel it.

Things between us will never be the same.

20

The clearing is empty. Again.

I step past the tree line less than an hour after Lev and I went our separate ways. My new boots tramp over damp grass. Draven vanished the second he and I arrived, muttering something about “pointless errands” before slipping back into the woods like a ghost.

Now it’s just me. And silence.

No voices. No movement. Just the distant chirp of insects and the hush of leaves rustling in the wind. My skin prickles. The last time things were this quiet, I nearly died outside the forge.

Then—clang.

Metal strikes metal. Sharp. Rhythmic.

The sound comes from the other side of the massive tent in the middle of camp, where the Fae have been training me and Ferria.

I round the edge of Darius’s tent.

And freeze.