Chapter 421: The Distance He Needs

The beast ignored her words, choosing to behave like Sophia hadn’t just spoken to him.

"The place you are standing," he told her calmly, his voice low and steady, "is too far."

Sophia released an insufferable sigh.

It slipped out of her before she could stop herself — sharp, tired, and openly unimpressed.

"I just told you I’m not stepping closer," she told him. "We are going to have the conversation from where I’m standing."

The beast ignored her words once more.

"You know what?" Sophia said with a sigh. "It’s obvious you are clearly not interested in telling me who you are until I apparently move closer to you. And I’m not going to do that. I’ll remain here and I’ll ask you questions, because it’s also obvious you aren’t going to give me the answers I want if I don’t move closer to you."

One of the beast’s eyes twitched.

Just once.

It was a tiny, involuntary movement, but it was enough to convey the annoyance he felt at Sophia’s words.

Sophia pretended not to notice and began her interrogation.

"Why do you want to kill me?"

Noctis shifted behind her, a low warning rumble vibrating in his chest.

The beast only stared at her.

Unblinking.

Unmoving.

Sophia tilted her head slightly.

"Is there something special about me?" she asked him.

She doubted that there was anything special about her, but she had to know the reason why this beast wanted her dead. Why he haunted her and why it seemed like he was always watching her every move.

"Is there something I have that you perhaps want?" she asked him.

The beast did not reply to her. He just stared at her with those eyes that tormented her.

"Wait..." Sophia said as she thought of something. "Is it because I now belong to the Nightshade pack? Do you perhaps have a grudge against them?" she asked him.

The beast’s expression did not change. He was wholly uninterested in what she had just told him, too.

Sophia nodded slowly to herself. That expression was enough to let her know that her being in the pack had nothing to do with why the beast apparently wanted her dead.

She lifted her chin.

"You can pretend not to hear me. You can ignore my questions. You can stare at me like you’re waiting for me to break."

Her voice sharpened just a little.

"But you should know something."

She took a small breath.

"I’m going to keep asking them anyway. And I’ll draw my own conclusions if you don’t give me answers. Hate to break it to you, but I am smart... a bit."

She added the last part softly, but the beast picked it up. His jaw tightened as he watched her with annoyance.

How someone as little as this woman could annoy him so much... he had no idea.

And she wasn’t stopping. She continued, undeterred.

"You’re the one calling the other beasts, aren’t you?" she asked him with wide eyes, then nodded to herself.

"It’s you. You made them work together, right? You are the reason beasts who should be killing each other are now working together, aren’t you?" she asked him.

The chained creature did not react.

"Did you really think sending beasts after me would make me cower?" she asked softly. "Did you think fear would make me stop? Did you think making them take me away to some nest would be enough to kill me?"

A corner of his mouth twitched and he shrugged.

"It appears... you may be a bit smart," the beast told her.

Sophia let out a humourless breath. "So you can reply to that?" she asked him. "Tell me something, though. I know you’ve been watching me. I know you want me dead. I know you are behind the beasts working together, sending them after me, but I still don’t know why and who you are."

The beast was quiet once more.

"Answer me, damn it!" she said, losing control of her emotions. "I know it’s you. I know you were the one laughing when I had the dream about Ronan and the others..."

The beast chuckled at that. It was a low sound that crawled through the cave like a slow echo.

"Dreams?" he repeated mildly.

Sophia gave him the same look he had given her.

She didn’t answer.

She simply stared at him.

The silence stretched.

She knew he understood.

She knew he knew exactly what she was talking about.

The beast shook his head faintly in amusement.

"You do not even understand what you carry," he muttered under his breath.

His eyes flicked back to her and he laughed.

"She calls it dreams," he said, then laughed again.

Sophia’s brow furrowed.

"Then what should I call it?" she asked.

His gaze hardened.

"I will not tell you anything," he said flatly, "until you step closer."

Sophia nodded once.

Then her gaze slid deliberately to the floor.

To the half-drawn symbols.

To the dark, sticky lines etched into stone.

To the broken pattern that still pulsed faintly with something she could feel in the back of her skull.

She pointed at the symbol.

"Do you need my blood to finish that?"

The change in him was immediate.

The beast straightened.

The amusement drained from his face.

His eyes sharpened into something thin and dangerous.

For the first time since she had arrived, the chains around his wrists scraped harshly against the floor as his body shifted forward.

Sophia watched him closely.

"Is that it?" she pressed. "Was that your plan?"

The air felt tighter.

Denser.

Noctis took a step forward without her telling him to.

A low, violent growl rolled through his chest.

"Were you ever going to answer any of my questions at all?" she asked quietly. "Were you ever going to tell me what and who you were?"

The beast’s glare burned into her without answering.

Sophia nodded slowly.

Understanding settled into her chest like cold weight.

"I thought so."

Her voice did not shake.

"There’s a reason you keep asking me to come closer."

Her eyes flicked to the bodies again.

To how close they lay to his chains.

To how perfectly positioned they were around the markings.

"You’re not asking because you want to talk."

The beast said nothing.

"You’re asking because you need me in a very specific place... to kill me, I’m sure."

His lips pressed into a thin line, and she exhaled slowly.

"But contrary to what you seem to believe," she continued evenly, "I am not going to step into it."

The beast stared at her for a long moment.

Then—

He smiled.

"You do not need to come any closer," he told her.

Sophia’s pulse spiked and her shoulders tensed.

"You are already within range," the beast told her.

And then he lifted his chained hand...