Chapter 45

Olivia Martins

“Kill her.”

The words struck harder than any blow ever could.

Time stopped.

Sound vanished.

Air fled my lungs.

I couldn’t move. Couldn’t think. I just stood there, staring at him like he was a stranger in someone else’s skin. But it was him. My Caspian. His voice. His face. His presence.

Only now, that voice was a weapon.

That face wore hatred.

That presence felt like death.

A tremor ran down my spine as the world sharpened into painful clarity. I could hear the quiet gasp of one of the guards. The way Ryker flinched, just slightly. But no one moved.

No one obeyed.

Not yet.

My body refused to respond. My knees were locked in place, breath caught somewhere in my throat. All I could do was feel, and what I felt was heartbreak.

How had it come to this?

After everything… after all the hell we’d gone through.

I stared at him. To the boy who used to be my best friend. The