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I fight against it, but she has consumed my blood, taking in my power and infusing me with hers. My fingers clench at my side, arm shaking with the effort of refusing her.
“You will not go to thathumanagain. You will search for me and stand by my side without question. You will be the perfect subject, the perfect prince.”
My fist thumps against my chest and my head bows. Her power wends its way through my veins, digging its claws into every muscle.
No.
My will is surrounded by fog as thick as honey. The tension in every muscle relaxes, and the words that form on my lips feel strange and foreign. They are not mine, but hers.
“Yes, my queen.”
Chapter Eight
Clara
Fire and icesettle to a steady roar in my ears. The world sways sickeningly around me, as my mind fights for the sliver of regained consciousness. I don’t know which way is up, and every movement threatens to spill the contents of my stomach. I am going to be sick if it doesn’t stop soon.
Voices whisper, coming from different directions.
Then I’m falling.
Hitting the ground, I cry out. But no one responds as I writhe on the floor, dying. Fear weaves its icy fingers over my skin. I can’t control my body enough to speak or twitch a finger.
“Get out of the way,” a man snarls.
The voice is familiar.
“Clara?” A hand pats my cheek firmly, sending wave after wave of stinging needles shooting along my face. “Clara, wake up. What in the Otherworld happened?”
His hand connects with my face harder this time. I manage a response, though it’s nothing more than a groan of pain.
“Demon shit,” Cassius mutters. His voice is louder now, closer. “Talk to me if you can.”
I try to do as he asks, but the fire consuming me from the inside flares up again.
“What happened to her?” he demands loudly. “Who brought her here?”
Murmurs surround us, but a warning growl from Cassius silences them.
My consciousness swims with the shifting and swaying. I focus on Cassius, trying to anchor myself to anything but the pain.
“Hold on, little bird,” he whispers.
Wind rushes over us as he runs with dizzying speed. He shifts me in his arms. A door opens and closes. Then I’m placed on something soft and warm.
Two fingers pry at an eye, forcing it open. Blinding light fills my vision, and I collapse in on myself.
“Unholy demon shit, Clara,your eyes.”
The fact that he’s this worried fills me with a deep sense of dread. I’m either dying, or something much worse is happening.
“My eyes?” I mumble.
He lets out a low growl. Cassius pries my eyes open over and over until I no longer scream in pain from the light and can keep them open on my own.
“No,” I say, squinting through damp lashes to see I’m not in my room.
His brow furrows.
