Chapter 132

In that single, suspended instant, a spark ignited between them, bright and undeniable, a fire that refused to be contained. He somewhere knew, deep in a place beyond reason or understanding, that she was the one he had been waiting for without ever realizing it, the missing piece of something he had not yet fully comprehended.

Taking a deep, steadying breath, he slowly twisted the dagger deeper into the chest of the man who had once been one of Roshanay’s customers. The blade turned with a sound that was more felt than heard. The blade met resistance briefly, then slid in with a sickening ease, and he watched the man’s eyes widen in final understanding, fear and pain coalescing in a single, horrifying expression.

The air filled with the coppery scent of blood and the faint, ragged sound of a dying breath, every detail imprinting itself on his mind with an almost clinical precision. One of his men stood quietly behind him, shifting his weight from one foot to the other,