The Death of a Tyrant's Concubine

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【𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐉𝐎𝐑𝐌𝐄】

Rain slowed to a whisper, its thunderous applause fading as I drew my final breath, chest heaving. My grin lingered as I tilted my head to the skies, soft drops kissing my face. It had been so long, too long, since I'd let myself move like this.

Dancing had been my first freedom. My first weapon.

I'd trained until my body bent like the wind and flowed like water, chasing perfection with each breath.

And I'd claimed it.

Even now, I remained the only one of my sisters to master the art's final, deadly flourish. If I got my hands on two blades, I could even do it right now. I felt that familiar magic hum inside me. Call me.

But as the last tremor of exhilaration began to fade, something colder took its place.

I felt his eyes before I saw them.

Sylvos.

He stood at the edge of the crowd, still as stone, yet his gaze pierced through me. It was the same way he had looked at me in my first life — like I was the only woman in the world.

Back then, it had taken me a year to earn my first dancing dagger while in the harem. Weapons were forbidden to concubines, so I had to claw my way through the ranks until I'd earned the right to ask for one. When I finally danced for him, he had looked at me just like this.

And I had basked in it.

I had wanted that gaze more than breath... Had longed for it until my very last moments...

Until he tore right through my heart.

Literally.

The memory snapped like a bone. A chill scraped through me, sharp enough to make me shiver despite the rain having no cold. My fingers tightened around my dagger's hilt. For one terrifying moment, I considered walking up to him and driving the blade straight into his heart.

But not yet.

No.

I wanted him broken first. Reduced to nothing. Begging. Only then would I let him die.

Sylvos smirked as though he could taste the venom in my glare. Yet instead of approaching, he turned on his heel and left, his guards trailing like shadows.

"Raine, you drenched me again!" Virella's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. She trudged toward me, hair dripping and curls clinging to her face.

"I warned you it would happen," I said, offering a crooked smile. "I can control the rainfall's reach, somewhat, but not entirely."

She huffed, already wringing water from her skirt.

"You can command storms but not a gust of wind to dry us off? Now that would be useful."

I smirked.

"I could. But I'd need a different dagger for that."

My gaze slid toward Dornhold Fortress, half-buried in the mountain looming over the city.

The blade I wielded now wasn't the dagger from my first life. Raincatcher was an unexpected gift from Sylvos after I went back in time.

But I still wanted to get my hands on my first dagger.

And for that, it was time to call in a favor.

"Goddess!"

The cry split the air, and both Virella and I turned just as a flood of townsfolk rushed toward us.