Chapter 104

Dane   I’d been sitting there, watching Luisa tower over that sniveling councilman, her fingers digging into his chin like she could crush his skull with a thought. The silver dagger gleamed in her hand, blood streaking down its edge, and the room stank of fear and iron.   She was a storm, wild and untamed, and I couldn’t look away. Not because I was impressed, though she’d probably gut me if I admitted it, but because I was trying to figure out what the hell she was playing at.   She’d always been reckless, but this? This was something else. Then that guard barged in with his report, holding up that damn red heel, and everything shifted. The air grew thick, like the moment before a lightning strike, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that whatever came next was going to change things. Permanently.   I ordered the woman brought in, my voice cutting through the murmurs rippling across the council chamber. The guard hustled out, and I leaned back in my chair, arms crossed, eyes flicking be