Page 136 of Savage Throne
“You don’t like it, my little monster?”
“I don’t like whatever could be attached to it.”
“And what could that be?”
Think, Monique. Think.
If this was a game of chess, Leo had just placed his queen in plain sight, and that alone was enough to unnerve me. He never played his cards so openly unless there was something far bigger brewing beneath the surface.
The ring wasn’t just a ring.
It couldn’t be.
Is this a claim of ownership? No. That doesn’t make sense. Is this a power play to mark me as his successor in the eyes of the East? Or something worse? Why would he tie me to his wife’s legacy?
I forced myself to look beyond the obvious; to search for the threads Leo had left dangling for me to tug on.
What isn’t he saying?
I looked at the ring again, the diamonds catching the dim light and scattering it into fragile shards. It was beautiful, yes—but beauty meant nothing in Leo’s world unless it could be used to manipulate.
The longer I thought about it, the more I knew this was a move designed to corner me.
To shape me into somethinghewanted.
I just didn’t know what he needed that shape to be.
I swallowed hard.
Leo had already claimed so much of me—the blood on my hands, the new nightmares in my head, the violence that lingered in my bones.
And now he wanted this, too.
A ring.
A symbol.
A shackle of some kind disguised as a gift.
What’s your endgame, Leo?
I dared a glance up at him.
His expression was unreadable but I knew him well enough to see the quiet satisfaction in the tilt of his mouth.
He was waiting for me to understand.
Waiting for me toacceptit.
And I hated that.
The sound of helicopters buzzed faintly in the distance, growing louder by the second. My chest tightened at the sound, hope bubbling up through the unease.
Lei.
My baby had to be in one of those helicopters. I could feel him drawing closer like the pull of gravity, his presence grounding me even as the storm of Leo’s games swirled around me.
Focus, Moni. Stay sharp. Take the damn ring so you can get to Lei. Once next to Lei, the meaning of this damn ring won’t matter.
