What the fuck?
The creature seized on the ground like it was burning internally. Inhuman shrieks wailed from within it.
And all I could see was Seph’s bare hand latched on to its skin.
Seph, who refused to touch.
Her fingers were shaking.
Her face had gone completely bloodless.
She looked terrified — not just of the creature, but of herself, of whatever was pouring out of her —
but she didn’t let go.
And the creature—
It wasn’t just dying.
It was withering.
Its flesh caved in as if something vital was being drained out of it.
Its veins went dark, collapsing.
Its limbs jerked in sharp, frantic spasms.
Like it was being sucked dry from the inside out.
The air around them warped — a faint pull, almost a pressure, like the world itself didn’t know what she was.
Then—
I met her eyes. She was covered in blood. She was terrified.
“Go,” I rasped. I threw her glove down. “Go now.”
For a heartbeat she froze — like she didn’t want to leave me — and then she ran, disappearing into the woods across the courtyard.
I leapt onto the creature, pressing my hand to the same spot hers had touched, and burned whatever was left.
By the time the guards arrived, it was just me, a corpse, and a whole lot of questions.
Chapter 20
Seph
I ran.
Branches tore at my clothes, but around me the world was swimming and warping. trees bending, the ground tilting like I was running through water.
There was a ringing in my ears that wouldn’t go away. I stumbled hitting a rock. I watched my blood pour out. It twisted black, like a serpent.
Heat knifed up my spine, sharp enough to steal my vision. My knees buckled, slamming into dirt. I tried to push myself back up but my hands slipped, shaking too hard to take my weight.
“No—no, no, no—”
The fever hit in a wave so violent I pitched forward onto my elbows. My stomach twisted. My skin blistered with cold and heat at the same time. Every breath scraped like glass.
