“Shut up whore”

The words tore through the room like a blade through silk — sharp, final, vibrating with the fury that clung to his bones The air thickened with heat, as though even the torches flinched from his anger.

Anger in Aerion was never brief. It was a living thing, swelling and twisting inside him until it demanded blood or silence His hand twitched at his side, remembering every time he had struck her — his sister — the one who had stolen his mother’s eyes, her warmth, her songs The one who had taken everything that should have been his.

He moved toward her with slow, deliberate steps “Do you remember,” he said softly, “when you were small enough to cry over a doll?” His voice was almost calm — but beneath it ran the same deadly rhythm as a sword being unsheathed “I remember breaking it. I liked how you looked then. Fragile..Useless!”

She flinched when he reached her. His hand caught her by the jaw, fingers digging cruelly into her skin until her breath stuttered “Now you think you’re grown,” he murmured, his tone slipping into mockery “You think father would take your side? That anyone would?”

He leaned close, his breath hot against her ear “I could tell him anything — that I found you whispering with one of the knights, that you touched his hand, that you smiled He’d believe it He’d call you spoiled and shameful..And when he does, I’ll be there to watch. I’ll even comfort you when you cry.”

His grip tightened suddenly, making her gasp “You were born wrong,” he hissed. “You should’ve died before you ever took her from me.”

Then he released her, shoving her backward hard enough to make her stumble. The smirk that followed was almost lazy, as if the outburst had calmed him “Be grateful I’m in a good mood tonight,” he said, wiping his hands as though they were stained “Say another word about me, and I’ll carve your tongue myself and feed it to the dogs.”

He turned away, leaving her trembling in the cold silence — the echo of his boots fading into the corridor like the steps of a predator that knew he owned every shadow in the castle.