Page 116 of Vows of Ruin

“We end this. At the root. No more chasing shadows. No more reacting. We go for Sebastian’s throat—and whatever he’s built under it. We take him out before he gets close enough to touch her again.”

Max looks down at the floor, then up at me. “And if that means going places she can’t follow yet?”

My chest tightens. “Then we go,” I say. “And we don’t tell her until it’s done.”

His brows rise. “She’ll kill us.”

“Probably,” I admit. “We’ll deserve it.”

Max huffs a humorless laugh. But he nods. Because he knows. Because he feels it too. Wrenley is strong. Unbreakable. A force. But Sebastian isn’t just trying to kill her. He’s trying to unmake her. There’s only one way to stop a man like that.

My mind settles into the truth like a blade into its sheath. To keep her safe… I’ll have to become the monster he thinks he is. I’ll have to go after him first. Before he ever gets close. I may not survive it, if that’s the cost. But she will. She has to. Whatever it takes.

Chapter Forty-Three

Wrenley

The armory is quiet in the way only a room full of weapons can be. Margot and I don’t say anything at first. We don’t need to. She’s at the workbench, polishing a knife she’s already cleaned three times. Not because it needs it. Because she needs to keep her hands moving. I’m doing the same, checking the same magazine I checked twenty minutes ago, flipping it in my fingers like it might reveal something new on the fourth inspection. It won’t

Margot finally breaks the silence, her voice a soft slice in the still air. “You okay?”

I huff a quiet laugh. “Define okay.”

She snorts. “Fair.”

Another moment passes before she sets the knife down and leans back against the table, folding her arms across her chest. “You’ve been quiet since Daisy told us what she overheard,” she says. “Too quiet.”

“I’m thinking,” I murmur.

“You’re spiraling.”

“I’m thinking,” I repeat, sharper this time.

Margot lets it sit a beat, then steps closer, nudging my shoulder with hers. “We’ve known each other long enough for me to recognize when you’re trying to swallow something too big to chew.”

I sigh, lowering the magazine. “Doesn’t matter. What she heard changes everything. He’s been closer for longer than we thought.”

Margot leans her head back against the wall, staring up at the ceiling. “Yeah. I figured. It still sucks.”

That makes me smile, small but real. I slide down the wall until I’m sitting on the floor, knees bent. Margot joins me without hesitation, settling beside me like we’ve done this a thousand times. Because we have.

She nudges my knee with hers. “Hey.”

“Hmm?”

“You don’t have to take all of this on yourself.”

I look over at her. She’s watching me with that expression I’ve only ever seen her use with the people she actually cares about. The soft one. The one she’d stab someone for pointing out.

“No one expects you to carry the whole world,” she says. “Not alone.”

I scoff. “You sure? Because it feels like everyone keeps handing me pieces of it.”

She bumps her shoulder into mine again. “You’ve always been the strongest of us. But even strong people get tired. And scared. And overwhelmed. And sometimes they need someone to sit on the damn floor with them. That’s what I’m here for.”

My throat tightens with an ache that I hate. One I trust only a few people to see.

“You’re the best friend I’ve ever had,” I say quietly.