Page 22 of The Blood Rites

“Where are the rooms?” I ask, too quickly.

Marissa points towards a corridor branching away from the main chamber, and I move before either of them can question me further.

The hallway blurs slightly as I walk, heat surging violently beneath my skin with every step, bright enough now that I can feel it pressing against my bones.

Not here. I need to snuff it out somehow.

I round the corner too quickly and collide hard with another body. The impact sends me stumbling backwards, but strong hands catch my arms before I can fall completely.

Black eyes lock onto mine.

Up close, the Shadowborn boy is somehow worse, beautiful in a way that feels immediately unsafe. His grip tightens slightly around my arms.

His expression changes—not anger, but confusion. His eyes flick downwards briefly, towards my hands, where the light beneath my skin flickers once, uncontrollably.

“Curious,” he says.

The word hits me like a knife between the ribs, and for one terrible second, I think he knows.

Pressure surges violently inside me again, and I wrench myself free before he can say anything else, staggering farther down the corridor and scanning the doors for my name.

Atheron Visconti.

Maleiros Harn.

Serraith Moln.

My vision blurs harder.

Marissa Ivern.

Then finally:

Luceris Navin.

I throw myself through the doorway and slam it shut behind me hard enough to rattle the frame. A metal bolt slides across instinctively beneath my shaking hands.

The moment it locks, the pressure breaks.

Mana tears out of me in one violent pulse.

Light explodes across the room.

I collapse to my knees as golden cracks burst through the stone beneath my palms, racing outwards in jagged lines while the shockwave seems to rattle the walls around me.

The release leaves me gasping.

For several long seconds, I can only kneel there staring at the ruined floor while my heartbeat slowly drags itself back under control.

A wave of calm washes over me as the pressure lifts; then panic crashes into me all over again.

I lunge for the nearest blanket and throw it desperately across the cracked stone just as footsteps pass faintly beyond the corridor outside.

I collapse onto the bed, spent.

I don’t remember falling asleep.

I remember the light.