Then my power shifted, tugging me towards something darker and irresistible. A faint pulse thrummed through the ground, drawing me to the left. With every step, the magic grew heavier, its essence increasingly sombre. That's when I came upon a gated cemetery cloaked in vines and shadow. The air shimmered with potent magic, alive with a weight that stole my breath.
Leaning against a tree, I closed my eyes and let it flow through me as we exchanged our truths. I was so captivatedthat I never sensed the presence behind me until it was too late.
A crushing weight slammed me into the trunk. Pain flashed along my spine as a hand clamped around my throat, cutting off air.
Dracon.
He loomed over me, his eyes blazing with sparks of fire ready to scorch the realm. His grip slid higher, forcing me onto my tiptoes for the smallest breath, but even that wasn't enough. I clawed at his wrist, and he only tightened his hold.
‘You dare disturb our fallen?’ he bellowed, his blazing breath scorching my face.
Everything in me screamed to fight, to shove him away. I tried to speak, to plead, but no sound came. My vision blurred at the edges as the pressure mounted.
He lifted me higher. Nails like claws pierced the fragile skin of my neck.
Tears stung my eyes, mingling with the blood that trickled towards my collar.
His energy was as dark as his eyes. As dark as his soul.
I wasn't strong enough. I clawed at his hand, but his grip never faltered.
I kicked, twisted, and fought. It didn't matter. His strength dwarfed mine, and every desperate movement drained what little air I had left.
I tried again to speak, to beg. Nothing came.
Growling and squeezing harder, he cut off my oxygen completely. The beast enjoyed my struggle. Edges of my vision darkened as fear clawed up my chest. This was how it ended: my neck snapped between his fingers. The tension coiled tight from the base of my skull to my shoulders until I thought I might shatter.
More tears streaked down my cheeks, joining the blood at my nape. The wetness reminded me of rain, the only thing I’d ever cherished about Ortensia.
His hand never left.
The King
My hand wrapped around her throat, and I squeezed until she struggled to breathe. Her erratic heartbeat brought me no satisfaction. Killing something so pitiful would be beneath me.
What the hell was she doing on our sacred ground? Looking for a way to hurt my people. I had no doubt.
She deserved to die. The rational part of me demanded it. I forced my fingers to crush her windpipe as my fire thrashed inside me, fighting to break free and protect her. It was the first time it had ever defied me.
It was her fault. The spell she’d cast on me.
The witch had cursed me; she was making me lose my mind. My fire was betraying me; was my sanity next? Or perhaps it was warning me that, as much as I wanted her dead, I couldn’t kill her. Not yet.
That didn’t mean I couldn’t punish her. How stupid could this girl be, wandering into the graves of people her mother had butchered? There was something broken in her, like her mind wasn’t wired properly.
My hand hitched higher as though I were trying to prove to myself that I could do it, while my fire rebelled against it.
Of course, I could. She was nothing. Just a witch who needed to learn her place.
Then, the moment she went limp, fire exploded out of me. It threw me backwards, tearing my grip from her.
What the hell?
What had she done to me?
Chapter Seven
Avari
