She wanted to curse at him.
But if she opened her mouth, she feared she would start screaming and sobbing like a ten-year-old child.
So she clenched her jaw shut.
Varkas looked down at her quietly.
Then he straightened and motioned for her to walk.
Talia glared at him with eyes full of hatred before striding out from between the wagons.
His promise of constant surveillance had not been empty.
Varkas followed behind her like a shadow.
Once, that presence had been something she longed for so desperately it hurt.
Now it felt unbearable.
When she had wanted him beside her, he had never been there.
Yet the moment she finally made the most important decision of her life, he appeared only to interfere.
'To protect Aila...'
No.
Perhaps he was protecting Gareth instead.
He could never fully understand why she had hidden a knife in her pocket.
He would never understand why she cared so little about the half-brother who beat and humiliated her whenever he found the opportunity, yet ground her teeth bloody over the half-sister who endured her in silence.
Talia turned her head and looked toward the camp as darkness gradually settled over it.
Aila was probably enjoying herself right now.
Surrounded by people who loved her.
Thinking fondly of the happiness waiting in her future.
The image of that rosy face made Talia's already turbulent emotions boil over.
Disgusting woman.
She had everything.
And yet whenever she looked at Talia, she wore those sorrowful eyes.
Those unhappy expressions.
Every bit of it was unbearable.
I still want to kill her.
As she bit at the scabbed skin of her lips, Varkas—who had been silently following behind—suddenly grabbed her and shoved her backward.
Talia looked up at him in alarm.
For a terrifying moment, she wondered whether he had somehow seen straight into her heart.
But he was not looking at her.
His eyes were fixed on the sky.
Following his gaze, Talia turned her head.
Then she sucked in a sharp breath.
Something enormous was plummeting downward at a horrifying speed.
Before she could even identify what it ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ was—
BOOM.
A thunderous impact shook the ground.
A massive cloud of dust exploded into the air.
“A monster!”
Someone shouted.
The cry was immediately followed by screams erupting throughout the camp.