Page 144 of Elemental Becoming

By all the Elemental gods. Is Thane enjoying this?

Her composure slips for only a fraction of a second.

“I wasn’t aware I was testing you,” she says, voice cool.

“Oh, you were,” I say smoothly, every word deliberate. “And it was going so well. Subtle. Calculated. A quiet game of who can get under whose skin first.”

I lean in slightly.

“But I don’t play games with people still mourning what they lost.”

The amusement fades briefly from Ardyn’s eyes, her lips pressing into a thin line. Then, just as quickly, her smile settles smoothly back into place.

“Well,” she hums, swirling her wine lazily, “I can see why he likes you.”

When Thane finally speaks, his voice remains calm. Absolute. Maybe even a little bored.

“Enough, Ardyn. If you wanted my attention, you could have simply approached me.”

His fingers brush lightly across my waist before settling there again.

“But this?” He exhales softly, shaking his head once. “This is a pathetic attempt at playing the same games you always have.”

A beat of silence settles between them.

Then, in a voice quiet and lethal enough to freeze the air between us, he adds:

“I tolerated these games when they were directed at me. I will not tolerate them when they are directed at her.”

Ardyn’s expression doesn’t change immediately. But I see it. The brief, unguarded moment where Thane finally, truly, shut the door on whatever once existed between them.

She lifts her glass, takes one final sip, and nods. “Enjoy your evening, Warlord. Amara.”

And then she walks away.

WHAT WAS CHOSEN

NINETEEN

Another dispatch arrived. An attack on the Fire Clan border! Gods, this war is moving too fast.

—VALEN’S JOURNAL

AMARA

Iexhale sharply, my pulse still thrumming from the confrontation. Thane stands beside me, composed in a way I currently am not while my emotions churn wildly beneath the surface.

I glance at him, arching a brow.

“So,” I say lightly, “that’s the ex. Should I expect more of them to appear from dark corners of the ballroom?”

He grimaces immediately, already knowing where this isheaded.

“Shit, Thane. You really couldn’t have warned me first?”

Thane rubs the back of his neck, looking almost rueful. “I should have told you.”

“You think?”