A Man Like None Other (Jared Chance) novel Chapter 5531

Right then, Drystan betrayed Enaricus.

"Oh? Every last celestial gem you possess?" Jared lifted an eyebrow, allowing a thin smile to curl across his lips. "That's almost convincing, I'll grant you that. But tell me—why should I trust a man who changes allegiance as quickly as smoke changes shape?"

"I—I can escort you to the treasury," Drystan stammered, palms up in surrender. "Everything is there. Once you've taken the gems, let me walk away. I swear I'll cause no trouble."

"Very well," Jared murmured after a pause long enough for sweat to form on Drystan's brow. "I'll accept your offer this once. Betray me, and you won't draw a second breath."

"I—I wouldn't dare. I'll be perfectly obedient," Drystan gushed, nodding so hard his jowls quivered.

Moments later, the desperate lord led Jared and Flaxseed through the skeletal corridors of the ruined Sixth Hall, its once-proud arches reduced to jagged frames clawing at a sky veiled with ash.

Charred beams smoldered, cracked tiles hissed, and the stench of burnt stone hung thick as tar. Every footstep stirred flakes of soot that drifted like black snow in the poisonous air.

Drystan wove through collapsed corridors—left, right, then a sudden dip beneath a fallen lintel—until a half-buried iron door loomed ahead, its surface blistered but intact.

His hands shook so fiercely the hinges rattled before the latch even lifted, yet the door groaned open, exhaling a breath of cool, dust-laden air.

A flood of prismatic light surged outward, bathing their faces in shimmering bands of white, azure, and violet. Inside, crystalline mounds of celestial stones rose like miniature mountains, each facet pulsing with captive starlight.

"Jared, this is everything," he whispered, eyes glassy with longing. "Take it—just keep your promise and release me."

Jared's smile cooled to ice. "Drystan, do you honestly believe I'd let a viper slither free just because it offers its scales? Strategy thrives on deceit—you of all people should recognize the lesson."

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