Chapter 13. Lines in the Ash

“Riven…” His voice was raw, stripped. “You don’t understand what you’re asking me to do.”

It rested there, a scrap of proof humming with history.

Blackened metal. Scratched initials.

SH.

“I’m asking you to stop lying.”

He spun back, eyes blazing. “It’s not lying if I don’t have the whole truth either!”

The confession cracked through the night.

Riven’s body locked, refusing to obey.

Axel swallowed hard, gaze dropping to the lighter again. “All I’ve ever had been pieces. Whispers. Hints that something about that night wasn’t clean. That my father…” He stopped, jaw flexing. “That Magnus knew more than he ever said.”

Her chest hollowed. The words she’d dreaded, spoken out loud.

Axel looked up at her, a storm raging in his eyes. “You think I haven’t wanted to ask him? You think I haven’t wanted to put my fist through his teeth until he finally spits the truth?”

Rivne stood still.

“Then why don’t you?” she whispered.<