Chapter 1839:

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“Tell me, Rooke,” she said, drumming her fingers lightly against the sleek phone resting on her desk, “why shouldn’t I call my dearest friend Sera and let her know you’re here? After all, she returned something precious to me that I’d been searching for a long time. Seems only fair to return the favor.”

At the mention of that name, my vision flashed red with a sudden, burning fury.

Settling scores was in my nature. I paid my debts, and I fully intended to settle the one I owed Seraphina Blackthorne. She had stripped me of the most important thing I had and shattered my world into pieces. I would return the favor if it was the last thing I did.

“Do it,” I muttered, “and you will never get the information I promised you.”

Astrid arched an eyebrow, a surprised laugh escaping her lips.

“Oh, are you still clinging to that pathetic little trade card?”

у𝘰𝘶𝗿 ոе𝘹t 𝖿𝘢𝘷𝗼𝗋𝗶𝘵e 𝗿e𝗮𝗱 і𝗌 o𝘯 𝘨𝗮𝗅𝗻о𝘷𝘦𝘭s.с𝘰𝗺

“I found Mireya on my own, but I’m still willing to hold up my end of the deal if you…”

Gods, the words were so hard to force out. Asking for help had never been my strong suit, and I hated how often I’d been forced to do it lately.

“…if you help me.”

Astrid stayed silent for a long moment, her sharp eyes fixed on me with the curiosity of a scientist dissecting some new organism.

I held her gaze without flinching. I might have lost a great deal — my assets, my credibility, my mate — but I would not hand over the last scraps of my dignity.

Information was the only thing I had left to bargain with, and no matter how indifferent Astrid pretended to be, I knew there was a secret out there she would trade the entire world for.

She could feign indifference just as well as I could pretend I didn’t need Mireya.

“Tell me what you know,” she said finally, “and then I’ll decide whether the information is worth whatever help you need.”

I shook my head.

“I need your word first—”

“That’s all you’re going to get from me, Rooke,” she cut in, every trace of amusement drained from her voice. “Take it, or risk running from the alliance for the rest of your life.”

I forced myself to stay quiet.

A sly smile pulled at Astrid’s lips as her amusement resurfaced.

She knew I had almost nothing left to negotiate with. My silence was little more than a last, desperate attempt to hold on to some scrap of control.

Damn it. How had I ended up here?

Mireya. That was how.

She had drifted into my life like a fragile leaf carried on a storm’s wind… only to reveal herself as the storm itself.

She had torn a hole through my perfectly ordered existence, driving me mad with a possessiveness I couldn’t understand, let alone control.

I should have been relieved she was gone — torn from my hands, to be more precise — but I didn’t know how to function around that emptiness. No. I needed to fill that void. I would lose everything, but I would not lose her.

“Catherine,” I said through clenched teeth.

Astrid tilted her head.

“Excuse me?”

“Catherine murdered Esme and Rhysand,” I clarified. “Catherine took little Evelyn.”

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