The words froze the room.
Edward, listening from a distance, held his breath.
Demian did not answer immediately. His jaw tightened, his eyes darkene, not with anger alone, but with something far more dangerous: loss.
"You want to leave?" Demian asked at last, his voice so low it was nearly a whisper. "After everything we've been through?"
Valerie lowered her head. "I don't want to live as a shadow," she said. "I don't want to wait for the mercy of a lawful wife who will one day arrive."
Silence fell once more.
And for the first time, Edward and anyone who had ever known Duke Demian Morvex understood that the most dangerous battle that man would ever facewas not war, not magic, not the empire itself.
But the woman standing directly before him now.
Demian let out a short laugh not warm, but low and mocking."You really think it would be easy for you to leave me, Valerie?"
Valerie straightened her back even as her chest trembled."I could run."
The air between them froze.
