He.
Fucking.
Bither.
Thunder rattles the sky, electrifying the air, and the ancient, otherworldly runes carved across my flesh dig their teeth deep enough to draw blood. More of her agony shafts through me, bold and screaming and so fucking clear I ache in places I never knew existed.
Cainon’s a dead man.
I suddenly feel as if my neck’s about to snap, my throat aching with the urge to scream—
‘My sound won’t come.’
Her thoughts strike like that fucking talon, and my muscles bulge with the urge toshred.I chain that thrashing darkness inside me, snarling through gritted teeth as I try to sit up.
Try tomove.
Thick, putrid muck erupts up my throat with a spluttering hack, pouring down my chin.A slicing pain lances through my chest every time my heart trips over a punctured beat—paling in comparison to the phantom tug at my skin. Like he’s draining her in greedy draws … biting deeper …
Deeper.
Anotherboomof thunder, and the malice inside me gnashes at his chains.
My lungs fill with liquid ice I can’t seem to shift, a sensation that chills me to the core. Because they’re notmylungs …
They’re hers.
I scramble for that seed, reaching for it—
Its twinkle sputters out.
Another violent roar rattles my ribs, and my gut flips. Head tipped to the side, more thick goo pours out of me in strangled heaves.
Orlaith …
I sift every ounce of warmth from my blood and feed it to the roots tethering the precious seed to my wretched soul—willing it to ignite.
To thrive.
Beat!
My internal scream goes unanswered. Not even the fleeting whisper of a thought to tame the shadow slashing at my insides, tearing me to ribbons.
I hunt for more scraps of heat in all my dark and dusty corners, a stark, condemning cold threading through my veins.
Fucking beat!
Those roots begin to singe, curling up, tearing from my insides in slow, agonizing pulls. The seed begins to implode, like it’s falling into itself, creating a hole I’m certain all of existence could sink into.
Every cell in my body stills, a deadly calm washing over me as I watch her try to leave.
Doesn’t she know I’d follow her to the fucking end?
I punch my internal hand between my ribs and sink my claws into the seed, feeling them pierce through that hard outer shell that wrestles me. Trying to rip from my grip like shewantsto go.
Todie.
‘Wait—’
