He stopped right in front of my ward.
“Who are you?” I forced the words past the tightness in my throat.
He said nothing at first. Just breathed in, slow and reverent.
“Elira,” he whispered.
The sound of it sent ice down my spine.
It wasn’t just the voice. It waswhatit did to me. Like insects crawling beneath my skin. My hands curled into fists. My shadows pulsed.
“I said—who are you?” I snapped, shadows surging higher.
He moved closer. Pale fingers—long and talon-like—reached through the veil to grip the bars.
“I forgot how beautiful you were,” he murmured.
Every instinct in me screamedrun.
Flashbulb memories surged—ripped fabric, the slap of skin, blood dripping down pale tile. My stomach lurched. I tasted bile.
“I know you…” I choked out, breath hitching.
He reached up, slow and deliberate, and pulled back the hood.
Blood-red eyes locked onto mine—eyes I’d seen in nightmares too many times to count. His face was carved with cruel perfection, the kind that made angels weep and devils jealous. Long white hair spilled over sharp cheekbones and a finely boned jaw. His mouth curved in a reverent smirk.
Anyone else might call him beautiful.
But I knew better.
He was the face of death.
Vael.
The name slammed into my mind like a blade. Instinctive. Instant. Undeniable.
Pain radiated through my brain as the memories began to assault me. I collapsed back on to my cot. Finn, who had heard my distress was reaching for me through the grate.
“Elle! Elle!” He yelled. “Get away from her! Leave her alone!”
Vael peered at Finn’s ineffective movements, amused. “Still the devoted servant, I see, Finnius.”
Finnius?
Pain lanced through my skull—sharp, searing, brutal.
I staggered back, clutching my head as white-hot agony bloomed behind my eyes. My shadows flickered, faltered. The ward I’d held so tightly wavered, pulsing with instability.
Memories—no, visions—forced themselves to the surface.
A hand gripping my throat. A voice whispering promises meant to control. The crack of a whip. My own screams, muffled by cold stone and shame.
No. No. No.
I fell to my knees with a strangled cry, the cell tilting around me. Blood pounded in my ears. My nails dug into my scalp like I could claw the memories back down, bury them where they belonged.
His footsteps echoed again—closer this time.
