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Boom!
The soul burst free, blowing us off our feet. We crashed into the walls—Emiana and her captors included. None were safe in its path.
Alisdair collapsed on top of me. Through his arms, I saw.
The rose petals ripped free of the stem and swirled around the room, summoning a whirlwind maelstrom of malice and magic. It was as if the whole of the howling, cursed forest was brought down on our heads.
“Calli, we have to run!”
Chilling, whipping winds tore at our clothes, hair, skin, and his shouts—trying to rip away and smother them.
“We have to run now!”
We both tried to stand and were blown back, pinned to the wall
“What”—wind rushed down my throat, ballooning my cheeks—“is it doing!?”
“It’s looking, Calli!” An emotion I’d never seen in his eyes before, terrified me to my core. “It’s looking for her.”
The swirling roses descended on Eadaoin, swallowing her and her screams. They flung her away, soaring across the room and dumping my friend still and unmoving on the floor.
Shadi tried to run but they were too quick for her. Lifting her into the air, they threw her away just as fast—bouncing her body off the stone.
“Stop!” I screamed. “Stop it!”
The petals were flying toward the entrance and the stairs, when they veered sharply off-course, and came straight for me.
“No!” I thrashed against the wind—fighting to run. Fighting to move! “Stay away!”
The petals loomed over me, a dark, ominous cloud of screaming, tortured souls—that veered away again.
They slammed into Aeris’s chest, tearing her from Bradach’s arms. She screamed—kicking and flailing as the petals lifted her into the air... and poured into her gaping mouth.
“No.” My voice lost to the wind. “Please...”
Aeris shrieked, her body jerking, twisting, and contorting as she changed. The woman I knew melted away before my eyes.
Hard, unsmiling mouth.
Dark eyes.
Severe cleft chin.
Sharp cheekbones casting their own shadow over gaunt cheeks.
Raven hair falling in wisps and tangles around her shoulder.
I’d seen her once before... in a painting locked in a tower.
“Constance.”
Her head snapped around, those dark eyes latching on mine. “Callidora,” she mocked. “Are we on a first-name basis? I don’t remember bestowing you the honor.”
My skin crawled. This wasnotAeris. Not her face, not her voice, not her kind, stern smile.
Constance floated down to the dais, her foot touching the platform just as the wind died down.
Alisdair grabbed me and ran.
