Burning, searing pain.
It’s the only thing that registers.
It’s the only thing that exists.
I can’t open my eyes, but I feel it.
Blazing, scorching, incinerating my insides.
It’s everywhere and nowhere, smoldering my insides, torching my soul.
My body writhes. My wolf howls in agony.
Is this the fiery gates of the underworld?
It can’t be.
Because there’s sweetness here too… I can feel it in my lungs. In my soul. A taste of Ulissa…
I try to reach for it.
But the darkness takes over.
I’m lost in a sea of vivid dreams and nightmares. They spin and twirl, ripping me through them while my spiraling head tries to keep up.
I see my father’s funeral pyre in flames. He sits up. Stares at me with cold gray eyes.
“Father,” I whisper.
“You dishonor me,” he hisses. “I left you a kingdom and you let it slip through your careless fingers.”
“No,” I say. “I didn’t know…”
He opens his mouth and insects pour out.
I step back with a gasp.
A wolf bites my shoulder from behind.
I scream.
It’s Lucan. He morphs into his human body and laughs at me.
“What did you think, cousin?” he says in a demonic tone. “Did you think I would ever let you have it?”
I reach for him, but the pain ignites, sending me spiraling into the darkness.
It swallows me whole.
I awake to the feeling of waves crashing down on me, a deafening thrumming ringing through my head.
My chest is on fire. Everything is blurred.
I’m in water.
I’m drowning.
My head breaks the surface. I gasp for breath.
