I close my eyes and fall to my knees on the rooftop, a howl of agony shredding my throat.
Beneath me, the building rumbles. A thousand windowpanes shatter, glass crashing to the street below. There’s a resounding crack, and when I finally get to my feet and open my eyes again, the sight before me obliterates what’s left of my heart.
Rook. My sweet, naughty professor. My favorite genius and book nerd and kind-hearted soulmate… Is nothing more than a pile of broken stone at my feet.
I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe. I can’t…
“Do not despair, little one. Everything is unfolding as it should be.” The dark voice behind me reverberates through my chest, his hand an icy grip on my shoulder. I whirl around and come face-to-face with the most terrifying man I’ve ever encountered. Tall and thin, with pale, shimmery skin and midnight black hair that hangs past his shoulders. His silver eyes glitter with malice.
I’ve never encountered the dark fae before, but I know at once that’s exactly what he is.
“Let me go!” I jerk free from his grasp and stumble backward. The fae vanishes into thin air, only for another pair of arms to wrap around me from behind, pinning me in place.
Unlike the fae, this monster is familiar to me. His touch makes my skin crawl, bile rising in my throat.
His voice leaks into my mind, poking and prodding. Terrifying.
Zorakkov, demon prince of hell.
My fingers twitch, desperate to feel the athame again, just like on our wedding night. To shove it into his throat.
But there’s no athame here. Only rot. Only death.
He loosens his hold, and I turn around to face him. He’s wearing Hunter’s body, but those eyes are pure demon—a dark, soulless black that shines with pride as he takes in the surrounding ruins.
“It’s beautiful, is it not?” his voice snakes through my mind, his lips unmoving.
Ignoring the question, I turn away from him and walk toward the edge of the roof. There’s a sound behind me—the familiar clip-clop of a trotting horse—and I turn to find a white stallion approaching me.
How he got on the roof is a mystery, but I sense he’s not here to hurt me. I hold out my hand, and he sniffs my palm. Gray spots dust his muzzle like tiny freckles.
I know this horse.
“Shoot the Messenger,” I say softly, stroking his flank. I used to have a picture of him on my dresser in Brooklyn. My father took me to the races once, and he let me pick the winning horse to bet on. Messenger lost, but we still stayed after for a photo. “What are you doing here, buddy? It isn’t safe.”
He whinnies and rears up on his hind legs, crashing back down before me again, his big brown eyes imploring me.Remember me, he seems to be saying.Remember my name.
I’m about to promise him that I will, but then he’s gone, vanishing, just like the fae.
Zorakkov is standing in his place again, his black eyes boring through me.
“This is all for us, my love,” he says, his thoughts simply appearing in my head, as if he planted them long ago and now they’re finally blooming. “A shining achievement. A grand monument to honor the joining of our two powerful bloodlines.”
His words unleash a new fury inside me. “I would rather die than align with the monster responsible for this. You… murderer!”
His dark chuckle rolls across my mind, making me shiver. Zorakkov’s black eyes blaze with delight.
I try to back away from him, but he won’t give me an inch. He matches every pace, kicking pieces of Rook off the building as he stalks closer and closer.
With a final crunch, he stamps on the forgotten glasses.
It’s that. The sight of them—that one small thing that was such a part of Rook. That one small thing, smashed and ruined… It brings the grief back full-force, a tsunami of pain that barrels into me and steals the breath from my lungs.
I’m on my knees again, tears spilling down my face, but Zorakkov only smiles.
Crouching before me, he catches my tears with his thumbs and says, “I would love to take credit for this masterpiece, but my powers are not that strong.”
“Not that strong?” I shout. “You leveled the entire city! My city! You wiped my home off the fucking map! You murdered the men I love!”
