The corridor was a dead space, a vacuum of sound where the only things that remained were two women and a debt that could only be paid in blood.
Eris stood as a pillar of white-hot intensity, her power no longer a flickering candle but a radiating sun. She was patient, her posture that of a predator that knew the prey had nowhere left to run.
"Well?" Eris asked. Her voice was terrifyingly calm, almost bored, as if she were waiting for a servant to finish a mundane task. "You threatened my son, Bianca. You spoke of destroying what I love. So, threaten me."
She took a slow, deliberate step forward, the heat from her skin making the air ripple like a desert mirage. A slight, cold smile touched her lips. "Come on. Show me. Show me what you think you can do against the woman you've spent months hating."
Bianca's back hit the cold stone. She was trapped, and for a heartbeat, the old terror threatened to swallow her whole. But beneath the fear was a roiling, toxic pride.
