Him.
Whatever Professor Kenna was about to say—whatever this contract was—one thing was already clear.
I didn’t want him to stay away.
And something deep inside me—ancient, pulsing with violet magic—whispered, I won’t.
Chapter 14-Draugr
My chest heaved the moment Professor Kenna cast me out.
The wards slammed shut behind me, rune-light flaring along the corridor like a warning carved into stone.
Containment.
Not for my protection.
For theirs.
My DeathFace surged up without permission.
It always did when control fractured.
My skin tightened, darkened, pulling too close over bone that no longer belonged to the living. The runes etched into me burned faintly beneath the surface—alive, restless, eager.
Then came the fangs.
They forced their way through my gums, slow and relentless, splitting flesh with a dull, grinding ache that never lessened, no matter how many times it happened. Blood filled my mouth—thick, metallic, wrong.
I swallowed it.
Let it ground me.
Let it remind me.
This was the curse.
Not some poetic tragedy.
Not some misunderstood burden.
Darkness.
Ancient. Patient. Devouring.
It did not sleep.
It did not weaken.
It waited.
And when it rose—it consumed everything in its path.
Including me.
The hunger followed, as it always did.
But this time it wasn’t alone.
