Page 29

I laugh and turn slowly on my heel. “You seem to know her very well.”

“I know her better than anyone in this world. Her mind. Her soul.” Cruelty curls his words, “Her secrets.”

My jaw clenches before I smooth it out with a cocky smile. “You sure about that?”

My right middle finger’s ring pulses. Gotcha.

I ball my fist and rip my arm back. The silk turns to a crackling rope and wraps around the leg of the man who is leaning against the Transformation Domain’s statue. He hits the ground, and I pull with all my strength. I make it three feet before he stops and my rope is severed, but this time I’m ready. That ring goes dark as the magic shuts off, stopping the current from reaching me again. Then all ten rings light up like suns as I square off against my hidden opponent.

He’s still hiding in the fog, but I can sense him now. My ring marked him, and there’s nowhere he can hide where I can’t clock him. I crack my threads at him like a whip. He’s strong, hitting them away again and again, but I’m fast. I rope him again and attempt to reel him in.

He grinds down into the stone flooring, his strength matching mine. My teeth grit as I groan, but I don’t let go. He slices my threads, but I release and re-rope him over and over. The stone drags under the man’s heels as he digs in to keep me from bringing him forward.

Then suddenly he lets go and launches towards me from the force of my pull. I gasp, falling back, and the fog billows. Eyes flaring, I twist in time to dodge the worst of the attack. Pain explodes across half my face when his magic slices through my cheek in a spray of blood. I’m knocked off balance and land on my injured knee. Searing heat erupts through my leg when the impact threatens my patch job. I throw out a hand to keep from going down.

I lift my head, and the hidden man collides with me, the fog blasting back with the force. A hand wraps around my throat, and I’m airborne in one heart-stopping moment. Then my back slams into the ground, my skull cracking against the unforgiving stone. My vision flashes, and my breath knocks free from my chest. The warmth of my rings flashes an icy cold as I fight my aching lungs to suck in air.

The late morning summer sun is shockingly hot after the freezing mist, and I struggle to adjust to the glaring light. At first, all I can see is a hazy shadow. Then his outline sharpens. I blink, and a shockingly handsome man smiles down at me. His curling blond hair gleams ethereally in the sun. But his eyes steal my attention. They’re as black as pits with glowing green irises.

I recoil, and his hand tightens on my neck. My mouth stretches open as I fight to breathe. I’ve barely recovered from his attack, and now he’s throttling me. The pressure isn’t enough to fully choke me, but it has me writhing in a panic-induced haze. Instinct kicks in, my rings flaring and veins swelling with a glowing gold. I snatch at his forearm and slam my fist into his elbow to break his hold, but it’s no use. It’s like hitting one of the stone statues, even with my threads enhancing my strength.

His thumb runs up and down my neck affectionately like he’s not nearly crushing my windpipe. The thrum of magic vibrates along his skin. He must be channeling his magic through his veins as well, helping him counter my attempt to break his hold.

I wheeze in breath and croak out, “Who—Wha⁠—”

The man tilts his head. “Don’t recognize me? It hasn’t been that long, Lucas. Days, even. But it was rather dark in the estate, and you are just a human.”

“Alas—ACK.” Alasdair’s name cuts off when he tightens his hold to fully cut off my air. Oh fuck, I’m going to pass out. Black spots are forming in my periphery, my veins no longer glowing as the threads dim. An echoing scream builds in the far recesses of my mind. A sobbing, familiar scream.

Alasdair turns towards the statue of Antonia. “Isn’t it beautiful? And you tried to poke holes in it. Naughty, naughty, human.”

He loosens his hold, and I take a massive breath, my rings flaring bright for a counterattack, but I’m yanked hard by the neck again. Alasdair lifts me off the ground a few inches only to slam me back down in a punishing crash. The second impact is so much worse. My brain rattles in my skull, the world going dark and spinning. My stomach twists with a wave of nausea, and I go limp like a doll, eyes hooded and my hand releasing Alasdair’s arm to flop to my side.

Alasdair shifts his position from beside me to kneeling over me in a straddle. He keeps his hold on my sore neck tight and restrictive as he speaks. “Lucas, Lucas, Lucas… Your fight is endearing, but I’ve got plans for you. Such delicious, agonizing plans.”

He chuckles darkly, green eyes glowing nearly white. “Now, let’s hear you scream for my dear sister.”

Alasdair’s free hand shreds my shirt open with an effortless curl of his fingers. Razor-thin slices bloom over my chest from the careless surge of his magic. My fist curls, threads pulsing in my right arm as I ready to throw a punch that will crush the fucker’s jaw.

Alasdair clicks his tongue affectionately and places his palm over the center of my chest. He dispels the illusion Tori placed there to reveal the scar that spans from my shoulder to my hip.

My fist is halfway to his smug face when pain erupts. My back arches, my mouth spreading wide. My brain throbs, my heart pounds. My vision goes red and distant screaming echoes in my mind. It’s growing louder and louder until words begin to make sense over thrumming agony that consumes my existence.

Stop, Ali! Stop! Please. Let him go!

Tori. She’s sobbing, the heart-wrenching sounds echoing all around, and my heart pulses with a new pain. I need to help her. My teeth snap together and I groan, my nails biting my palms as I clench my hands.

The red in my vision flashes with views of the park. My rings flutter, my threads trying to take shape. Black eyes with glowing green rings and a cruel, distorted smile replace the red. A sick, wet ripping and burning agony robs me of my consciousness. My rings go dark as I fall into a memory I never wanted to live again.

Dimitar’s office is that same, blood red. He’s behind his large, dark mahogany desk. His teeth are bare, his body vibrating. The last of my payment for my debts sits before him, and my answer to his offer hangs in the air between us.

No one says no to Dimitar. I knew that, and yet I thought I was different. I should’ve known this would happen. He might’ve mentored me, made me feel special to him, but there is no love in his cold heart.

He’s growing larger, the twisted token burned into his sternum glowing dark green through his shirt. Sweat blooms down my spine as the shadows lengthen. The terror of that moment is so real, so visceral, that a sob convulses my physical body as I watch the Guild leader morph into the monstrous abomination that hides behind the prim, human man.

The screaming. It’s back. Not from the memory, but elsewhere. The office I’m standing in flickers black as a voice vibrates down me. “Lucas! LUCAS!”

“Tor.” My memory whispers, and the vision tips.