Page 152 of She Who Holds My Wrath

Her voice slices through the chaos surrounding us, through the air and straight into my mind. I turn to look at her. Daisy is on her knees, blood soaking through her training leathers. She decided not to wear armour to train civilians. I told her she should. I told her to protect herself regardless. She didn’t listen. She didn’t fucking listen. And now she’s on the floor with a healer’s hand applying pressure to her shoulder.

But at least she’s alive. She’s alive. She’s breathing. She’s mine.

“We need him alive,” she calls, desperation threading her voice. “We need to interrogate him. Please⁠—”

The Void shrieks. LIES. HE MUST DIE.

My body moves without my permission, forcing me to go for the kill again.

“STOP HIM!” Daisy screams.

Soldiers rush in. Guards, warriors from every realm, all charging straight at me. Magic flares and weapons flash in my peripheral, but they mean nothing to me. None of them do.

Only her. Only her. Only her.

I tear through them like a storm given flesh. Flame washes over shields. Lightning dies against my skin, swallowed whole by The Void. Shadows recoil. Earth trembles beneath my feet. Power slams into me from every direction and vanishes instantly, inhaled by the endless hunger residing in my chest.

Bodies fall. One by one. Down. Down. Down.

I barely register it. Someone screams my name. The scent of burning flesh assaults my senses. Others don’t get back up from the pile forming at my feet.

But it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter.

Because The Void is singing now. End him. END THEM ALL.

I hear Daisy yelling orders in a furious, commanding tone. I hear the fear beneath it, but the words blur together. All except one sentence, sharp enough to freeze my blood.

“Get the boy to the dungeons, now!”

No. No. No. I surge forwards, desperation taking over. I cannot let him live. I will not. He nearly took her from me. Nearly ripped my world apart.

The bodies pile higher. Broken. Unmoving.

Then, a sharp sting bites into my neck. Someone managed to touch me. Someone managed to get too close. I snarl and spin, rage coursing through me. Curly ginger hair peeks out from beneath a ridiculous hat, bright green eyes staring up at me, wide with fear.

Ezra.

He’s right there, terror and resolve tangled together as he stands with an almost empty syringe in his hand, the needle glinting with a blueish fluid. Sedation tonic.

Rage explodes inside me. I seize him by the throat and lift him effortlessly, my grip tightening as The Void screams for his death, too.

HE DARES.

The head healer’s son, Cassyr, charges towards us. I don’t give him a chance to get close before swinging my fist backwards, connecting with brutal force. He goes flying, the thud of his body hitting the sandy floor somewhere behind me confirming he’s out of my fucking way.

Ezra’s feet kick weakly, but I can already feel the tonic flooding my veins. It feels wrong, like another creature is taking over me. My vision blurs and the roar inside me fractures and distorts. My strength falters, my grip loosening just enough for Ezra to break free and drop to the ground, gasping for air.

The world tilts as The Void’s furious howls muffle in my head. Darkness creeps in at the edges of my sight, and the last thing I feel is Daisy’s warm hand on my face, her soft cry breaking through the haze as the world fades to black.

I stir to the sounds of muffled voices.

No clashing of steel. No screams echoing through my skull. Just whispers that bounce around the space enclosing me. My first breath feels wrong. It’s shallow, like my lungs are working through mud and nausea rolls through me like I have the world’s worst hangover.

One by one, my senses come back to me. My head lolls sideways as I try to move it, and I realise it’s just about the only part of me that I can move. My wrists and ankles are bound to what feels like a steel bed, the metal restraints rubbing a little too harshly against my skin. As my eyes slowly crack open, I notice a ring of faintly glowing runes surrounding me, bathing the darkened chamber in dim light.

Memory slams into me without mercy. Blood. Her scream. The blade. The boy’s body hitting the ground with a sickening thud. Ezra’s terrified face as I restricted his oxygen. Bodies. Bodies. Bodies. Too many bodies. My chest tightens painfully as I drag in a trembling breath. I close my eyes and slam my head back against the bed so hard the sound echoes, shame and fury tearing through me.

I feel for her and the bond answers immediately. The relief is so violent it almost knocks me unconscious again. She’s alive. She’s hurting, furious, afraid. Probably of me. But she’s okay.