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No.

This was the war.

The one she paid for.

The one they all paid for.

I jerked, shifting. Wanting desperately to pull away. To walk away. To turn my back like I had all those years ago. I didn’t want to see. And that’s exactly what happened. I didn’t see.

But I did now.

“Please.” She whimpered. “Please don’t make me watch. Not again.”

Watch what?

A low, savage sound ripped from me. Half animal. All of it murderous.

“Nyss—”

“I’ll stay still,” her words broken. “I’ll stay still this time.”

No.

The word settled inside me. Cold. Absolute.

All I saw was her hand. The shattered thumb. The tremor she tried to hide. The foot that dragged.

“Please, I’ll stay still.”

Killian Armstrong returned to me. Bloodied. Savaged. Final.

Blood and cloves next.

The monster who haunted Nyssa now.

He did this.

He did this to her.

He taught her something terrifying. Something that made my blood run cold.

He taught her good girls stay still.

The realization settled deep.

Cold.

Final.

He was already dead.

“I’ll stay… I’ll stay… I’ll⁠—”

She jerked hard, then… breathed.

“Alaric?”

The word ripped me apart.