37. Basten
Chapter 37
Basten
F uck .
Everything hurts.
The pain tearing through my chest makes me feel like my bones are being slowly ground into dust. Every breath is a curse—but also a reminder that I’m alive.
Because of Sabine.
She saved me. Of course she did. The stubborn, beautiful thing. The only person who could outsmart a god while damn butterflies flit around her head like a living crown. Or were the butterflies only in my dreams? Eh. Awake. Asleep. Doesn’t matter—I can’t get her out of my head. And maybe that’s the point. She’s always been there, hasn’t she? Buried somewhere even Iyre couldn’t reach her.
Pushing me.
Daring me.
Urging me to dream beyond what a street boy fighting in the ring could imagine.
Lying here, half-dead, it hits me—what exactly have I been trying to escape? A chance to change things? To help abandoned kids like me? All these years, I’ve been hiding out in the woods, or in Rian’s shadow, afraid to take a good look at myself in the mirror.
And see the king I am.
Sabine saw it. Something worth saving. Hell, something worth taking me to death’s door and back again.
So maybe it’s time to step out of the shadows.
And wear the damn crown.
But by the gods, I’m not doing it without her at my side.