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“If my words cast shadows, may they be cursed!” I snarled back, bracing for the jolt of that sick power that I knew was coming. And sure enough, it crackled through me. I recoiled inwardly—it made me want to vomit as it crawled under my skin and through my veins, toward my chest. But I knew it couldn’t break through the golden glow of that bond. And I had no intention of lying while she had a hand on me.

“The weaves are set!” she said, her eyes blazing.

I didn’t wait. “I am not a Furyknight! I am the Heir Apparent. Son of the Dominus, the progeny, who gave her the mark. And the dragons act today at the behest of my will!”

Gasps and murmurs rose, echoing inside and out as the power snapped and flared… but nothing happened to me.

I glowered at Breckon. “Now, you fucking boil on the ass of—”

Breckon’s eyes went wide, but he shouted over me. “I challenge you! I challenge you! I will take your seat!”

I almost staggered. There was a roar from the witnesses—Cruors loved a challenge.

It was the Cruormancer equivalent of a duel. To the death.

I cursed under my breath and yanked my hand out of my mother’s grip. But I stood over Breckon, who shook, but didn’t back away, and I knew… he had me.

If I killed him now, I gave his protests credence.

And, if I was unwilling to meet a challenge, I lost any power over them.

“Very well,” I snarled and let Breckon see his death coming in my eyes. “But when I take you down, I’m handing you to the dragons to burn you in your boots. You hold nothing close to the power needed to lead the—”

“Oh no, Vane,” Breckon drawled. “I don’t challenge your blood… I challenge you for her.”

Every molecule in my body twanged with terror and rage in equal measure. My head swam.

Breckon smiled. “Release her to the hunt. Just you and me. And whoever finds her takes her, and the babe.”

And just like that, I was neatly trapped, because in the Cruor world, to deny a direct challenge was to submit. And then, whatever the challenge gained—the prize—was unerringly transferred to the winner.

If she had a baby, it became his.

If she didn’t, she became his.

So, there was absolutely fucking nothing I could do, except meet the challenge and win. And they all knew it.

Panic. Unadulterated, jangling panic lit a spark in my veins, and every remaining shred of control I possessed burned up in it. There was no fleeing this. No evasion. No fake magik to distract. A Cruor challenge was won or lost, without fail. If we ran, Breckon would be declared the winner. They would hunt us, kill me, turn Grace into a slave, and…

The only way out was through. They all knew it. That was why Breckon was so smug.

With a muttered curse I huffed. “See you at midnight,” I growled, then, convinced that if we stayed under their eyes a moment longer, they’d take her now, I grabbed Grace’s wrist, pulled her into my chest and screamed through the link. ‘Hold on. Pray. And for fuck’s sake, don’t let go.’

Then, I hurled the dark power to tear open the void I’d always sworn I’d never touch, to transport us both away from this shitshow.

Into the Void

SOUNDTRACK: Snuff by Slipknot

~ GRACE ~

‘Hold on. Pray. And for fuck’s sake, don’t let go.’

I didn’t understand what had happened, why Voski’s voice shivered with terror. But I heard those words and clung to him so tightly I worried my nails would cut into his skin. Yet, it still wasn’t enough.

I thought he would run. He might even let Kham take us.

Instead, before my eyes, the air itself seemed to twist into a midnight-black spiral that obscured the vision of those behind it.